Market Already Exceeded Last Year's Highs -- Happy Holidays Ahead for Graphics Processor Sales

TIBURON, Calif.--Third quarter shipments of graphics processors jumped an amazing 21.2% over Q2, which was already a great quarter clearly signaling the holidays will be robust for PCs and the industry in general.

AMD showed the biggest jump in quarter-to-quarter growth at 30% followed by Intel at 21%.

Intel shipped the most parts at 63 million, over twice as many as its nearest competitor Nvidia.

“A total of 119.45 million units were shipped in the third quarter, exceeding the record 111 million units that shipped in Q3, 2008,” said Dr. Jon Peddie, president of Jon Peddie Research in Tiburon CA. “So the market has caught up with, and exceeded, last year’s highs. The crash of fall 2008 is now behind us.”

Once again a record was broken and the growth from Q2 to Q3 was the largest in nine years.

Portables lead the way

Notebook shipments led the market again topping out at almost 56 million units with discrete graphics processors jumping more than 36% over Q2 indicating what the OEMs think will be the hot sellers in Q4.

Peddie notes that, “Integrated graphics in notebooks, which includes the popular netbooks, increased 27% over Q2 — a great gain but less than discrete. Netbooks will remain popular but they will not have the high market share they had during the recession when they were just introduced. Rather, consumers are expected to “buy up” in the next quarter.

“The channel is full and the products in it will have to be sold off before the OEMs and their resellers take a chance of seeing the channel becoming overstuffed. That suggests that while Q4 is typically a good quarter for PCs, the quarter-to-quarter growth in Q4 may not be as robust as Q3. Graphics are a great leading indicator,” Peddie said, “The graphics go in before the PC is built or shipped."

Pricing and Availability

The Q'08 edition of Jon Peddie Research's Market Watch is available now in both electronic and hard copy editions, and can be purchased for $995. The annual subscription price for JPR’s Market Watch is $3,500 and includes four quarterly issues. Full subscribers to JPR services receive Tech Watch (the company's bi-weekly report) and a copy of Market Watch as part of their subscription. For information about purchasing Market Watch, please call 415/435-9368 or visit the Jon Peddie Research website at www.jonpeddie.com.

About Jon Peddie Research

Dr. Jon Peddie has been active in the graphics and multimedia fields for more than 30 years. Jon Peddie Research is a technically oriented multimedia and graphics research and consulting firm. Based in Tiburon, California, JPR provides consulting, research, and other specialized services to technology companies, including graphics development, multimedia for professional applications and consumer electronics, high-end computing, and Internet-access product development. Jon Peddie's Market Watch and First Look are quarterly reports focused on the market activity of PC graphics controllers for notebook and desktop computing.

View all JPR press releases http://www.jonpeddie.com/about/press/index.shtml.