Nvidia Graphics Chip Market Share Nosedives

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It isn't unusual to see shifts in graphics market share from quarter to quarter as we know that the timing of the introductions of new graphics products can dramatically impact the market position of any graphics chip developer.

However, at first sight, it appears that Nvidia has been hit especially hard in the first quarter of this year. The company's shipments were down 28.4% year-over-year, according to Jon Peddie Research (JPR). Nvidia's overall market share dropped to 20.0%, down from 28.0% in Q1 2010.

AMD was able to post 15.4% growth and increase its market share from 21.5% to 24.8%. Intel was also able to gain share at Nvidia's expense and jumped again across the 50% mark - from 49.6% to 52.5%, JPR estimates. Matrox, SiS, and Via/S3 do not play major roles in the global GPU market anymore.

The first quarter of this year was somewhat special as the overall shipment climbed against the seasonal trend by 10.7% from Q4. Nvidia, however, saw its shipments decline by 1.7%, while AMD climbed by 13.3% and Intel by 14.2%. Of course, AMD is currently capitalizing on its Fusion processor, which appears to be boosting graphics chip shipments overall. JPR principal analyst Jon Peddie told me also noted that Nvidia's decline is due to the fact that the company has exited the embedded and integrated graphics chip market. In its discrete business, Nvidia actually did well. the company held a 59.1% market share in desktop discrete graphics (AMD: 40.5%) and 41.7% in notebook discrete graphics (AMD: 58.3%).

The unknown variable in this game will be Nvidia's success in the tablet space, especially when Windows 8 will be moving to the ARM platform. There are also some open questions about Nvidia Tegra smartphones, which could reach levels that easily surpass traditional GPU shipments for the PC. Peddie noted that Nvidia is rather shy in this respect and does not reveal any numbers about this segment yet.

Douglas Perry
48 Comments Comment from the forums
  • NuclearShadow
    Nvidia's decline is due to the fact that the company has exited the embedded and integrated graphics chip market.

    Which they no doubt left for a reason and must be a good one at that.
    Go ahead and sell as I buy.
    Reply
  • pelov
    NuclearShadowWhich they no doubt left for a reason and must be a good one at that.Go ahead and sell as I buy.
    They don't make a lot off of the tegras. The chips are cheap to produce and have to remain cheap to be sold in such quantity, nevermind the insane competition when it comes to ARM nowadays. Their GPUs price/performance is coming in 2nd best to AMD.

    Project denver and the new line of GPUs better be absolutely mind-blowing, otherwise this trend will continue.
    Reply
  • Tomtompiper
    NuclearShadowWhich they no doubt left for a reason and must be a good one at that.Go ahead and sell as I buy.
    It was a very good reason, they could not compete. And in the tablet space they face stiff competition from PowerVR whose tile based architecture is faster and more power efficient than traditional z-buffered approach preferred by Nvidia and AMD. At least have an ARM license to fall back on so they have somewhere to retreat to when the Bulldozer arrives.
    Reply
  • JohnnyLucky
    I didn't know Intel had 50% of the global market.
    Reply
  • Tomtompiper
    9287655 said:
    I didn't know Intel had 50% of the global market.


    Onboard graphics on most low end PC's netbooks and motherboards. 50% by unit, not by value.
    Reply
  • milktea
    Never owned any Nvidia products. Their names doesn't come up often in the mainstream consumer segments. Even with the introduction of smartphones, PowerVR is more heard of than Nvidia. It's sad.
    Reply
  • memadmax
    The last time I had a Nvidia card, the driver was so bad that it was almost unusable... since then, AMD baby...
    Reply
  • dgingeri
    I find this odd because I have bought more video cards this year than any year previously, and most of them have been Nvidia cards. I've purchased 2 GTX470's, a GT430, and a G210 for myself alone, and 6 more for family members. I've previously bought more ATI cards, but their recent driver quality and the problems I've had hooking them to HD TVs has discouraged me from buying more of them.
    Reply
  • memadmax 05/04/2011 11:33 PM
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    The last time I had a Nvidia card, the driver was so bad that it was almost unusable... since then, AMD baby...

    You are such a fanboy! Everyone knows AMD drivers are the worst and Nvidia are the best. As far as cards go...both are good but the drivers Nvidia wins hands down!
    Reply
  • dgingeri
    tomtompiperOnboard graphics on most low end PC's netbooks and motherboards. 50% by unit, not by value.
    This is mostly because most consumers, including many IT managers who make the buying decisions, are, quite simply, idiots. They don't realize just how many problems they'll have with driver issues and program compatibility. They just think cheap="good enough". So many people just don't realize that you get what you pay for, and paying a little more to get good quality is well worth the investment.
    Reply