Q2 2016 suggested that AMD would be facing a strong year for the company. A press release reporting on the company’s standings back in August revealed a 13.5 per cent share of the graphics chip market, while NVIDIA saw a 2.8 per cent drop. Now those numbers have nearly reversed. According to Jon Peddie Research, NVIDIA saw a 2.2 per cent increase in Q3, whereas Intel lost 1.6 per cent of the market and AMD saw a 0.6 per cent loss.
In total, AMD holds 13 per cent of the GPU market, Intel has 70.9 per cent, and NVIDIA has earned 16.1 percent. NVIDIA’s increases are tied with a 39.3 per cent PC graphics shipment increase from Q2 as well, suggesting NVIDIA is moving units quite well. “It was one of, if not the best quarter in NVIDIA’s history, which the company attributes to the strong acceptance and demand for its new Pascal line of graphics chips and boards,” Jon Peddie Research wrote. “The company’s share price is at an all-time high.”
It seems like PC sales are largely tied into gaming sales as well. According to the report, the PC market “rose in Q3 from the previous quarter,” suggesting that the “quarter to quarter gain” the PC field is experiencing is largely thanks to the gaming industry. “PC suppliers are seeing growth in gaming desktops and notebooks, and hope this will offset the slowdown in overall PC shipments,” Jon Peddie Research wrote. This led the organization to suggest the gaming market “is lifting the entire PC market and has overwhelmed the console market.”
Jon Peddie Research argued that the gaming industry will continue to boost the market, especially through “the promise of Virtual Reality.” It’s hard to say whether VR will enormously improve PC sales, but it seems PC gaming is gaining a stronger foothold on the market every day. This could spell more products available for PC players across technology stores, from GPU upgrades to pre-built machines. While it’s tough to say at the moment, Q4 will certainly confirm the direction that NVIDIA, AMD and Intel are headed, in the meantime. Stay tuned as the holiday shopping season enters full swing.
