Jon Peddie Research (JPR), the industry's research and consulting
firm for graphics and multimedia, announced estimated graphics chip
shipments and suppliers' market share for Q4' 2010.
Overall shipments of graphics devices for the year, 2010 came in
below expectations with an unimpressive 4.3% total year to year
growth - a disappointing result given the enthusiastic start of the
year, according to research and consulting firm for graphics and
multimedia Jon Peddie Research (JPR).
Q4 of 2010 did not boost the year as expected. Instead of the
traditional seasonal pickup, market leader Intel showed decline,
which affected the overall results.
Over 113 million graphics chips and CPUs with graphics shipped in Q4
2010. Intel was the leader in unit shipments for Q4 '10, elevated by
Clarksdale, continued Atom sales for Netbooks, and Sandy Bridge.
However, on a quarter-to-quarter basis AMD and Nvidia gained market
share at Intel's expense.
AMD reported Graphics was 26% of the company's total sales, an
increase of 8.7% sequentially and 0.7% from last year. The graphics
business benefited from a double-digit volume increase.
Intel reported revenue from chipset and other revenue of $1.68
billion in Q1, however that does not include embedded graphics CPUs.
Nvidia's quarter, which straddles the calendar quarters reported
revenues of $844 million for their Fiscal Q3 '11 which is from
September to the end of January. Their next quarter ends in April.
"We were told by the sharpshooters that this was going to be a 15% to
17% growth year for the PC," JPR said. Gartner and IDC reported the
year came in at ~13%. But Graphics are a leading indicator, a sell-in
part, and lackluster sales of graphics are a bad-news bellwether for
the PC industry.
Some analysts are saying tablets - or more precisely, the iPad, has
cut into low end PC sales. If that's true then it would for sure show
up in graphics. And given how low the growth was for graphics it
looks like there may be a causality relationship.
"This uncertainty in definition, methodology, and sell through is
shaking up the fluffy white stuff in our snow globe and making seeing
into the future challenging. However, we continue to be optimistic
about the future for PCs into 2011. There is momentum for machines
used in business, creative content, and entertainment. The iPad and
coming tables will remain very attractive adjacent devices and will
primarily affect the low end of notebook sales," JPR added.
Although numbers were down in Q4 the research firm expects 2011 to be
a strong year for GPU sales. "The full adoption of DX 11 for
mainstream and high-end systems will take place putting a premium on
GPU sales, AMDs Fusion and Intel's Sandy Bridge should hit their
stride. Couple all that with an improving US and World economy, and
2011 should be solid year all-around."