Intel might be catching up to AMD's discrete GPU market share

Daniel Sims

Posts: 795   +32
Staff
The big picture: Fourth-quarter 2022 financials were dour for multiple tech industry sectors, but new data indicates that Intel's entry into the dedicated graphics card space hasn't failed. However, what the numbers mean depends on how much you trust Intel's reporting and how you see the overall market.

Jon Peddie Research's Q4 2022 report (via Tom's Hardware) for the discrete GPU market indicates Intel has achieved a market share similar to AMD, though Nvidia still dominates. If the numbers are trustworthy, they suggest a successful freshman effort from Team Blue.

Team Green is still the undisputed master of dedicated GPUs, with 82 percent of the market last quarter. However, mere months after launching the Arc Alchemist graphics cards, Intel appears in the report with a nine percent market share – the same as AMD. Compared to the same quarter in 2021, Team Blue ate half of Team Red's market, but Nvidia increased its dominance.

However, research group head Jon Peddie takes Intel's numbers with a grain of salt. The nine percent market share comes from the company's estimates and ASPs, which Peddie considers soft data. AMD could still have had higher unit sales than Intel last quarter. Although only a handful of AMD cards appear on recent Steam hardware surveys, no Arc Alchemist cards have yet emerged.

Total Q4 2022 dedicated GPU sales, which include desktops, laptops, and embedded computers, reached 13 million units – a roughly 50 percent plummet from the 26 million GPUs sold in Q4 2021. That fall is steeper than the year-on-year declines in other sectors like CPUs and total GPUs (which includes integrated graphics, where Intel still dominates with a 72 percent market share).

Declining PC shipments dragged down the graphics card market last year despite product launches from all three vendors. Customers criticized Nvidia's high-end GeForce RTX 4000 series GPUs for their shockingly high prices. Meanwhile, AMD only managed to get its flagship Radeon RX 7000 cards out the door right before the end of the year, so their impact barely registers on Q4 2022 charts. Both companies are set to launch more mainstream entries in their latest GPU series this year.

Even if Team Blue hasn't caught up to AMD yet, the company confirmed that is a near-term target. On a recent podcast, Intel Fellow Tom Petersen acknowledged that they can't touch Nvidia as they are now, but hope to start a real competition with AMD. Petersen also mentioned Intel's upcoming follow-up GPU series – Arc Battlemage – saying the company wants to grow its market share by increasing value for mainstream models. The latest rumors indicate Battlemage may launch sometime in 2024.

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KofeViR

Posts: 7   +0
AMD needs to lower GPU prices for sure or Nvidia will eat more and more.

AMD is the cheaper choice. They won't sell anything without good performance per dollar. As in much better than Nvidia.
 

neeyik

Posts: 2,488   +3,058
Staff member
AMD needs to lower GPU prices for sure or Nvidia will eat more and more.
It can't afford to. The operating margin in its Gaming sector is just 14% and while the PS5/Xbox SoC accounts for a significant portion of that sector's revenue, AMD doesn't want to be in a situation where the margin doesn't even break double figures.
 

Beerfloat

Posts: 607   +1,128
AMD number 3 soon?

It seems implausible but I could see it. The RDNA* era so far has been about fairly uninspiring 'me too' efforts that are lacking in innovation. There are few features that would make customers want to actively seek out their cards over those from Nvidia.

DisplayPort 2.1 support is one, though the level of performance does not really require it, and some model sporting more VRAM might be another. But then their GPUs need it more.

I reckon 'cheaper and almost the same features two years later' only goes so far. Intel can do that.

The toxic AMD fandom is another problem.
 

KofeViR

Posts: 7   +0
It can't afford to. The operating margin in its Gaming sector is just 14% and while the PS5/Xbox SoC accounts for a significant portion of that sector's revenue, AMD doesn't want to be in a situation where the margin doesn't even break double figures.
Then they will loose the desktop GPU market. Nvidia keeps gaining and gaining marketshare and 7900 series are way too expensive to be able to compete, especially in Europe where 7900 XTX is pretty much the same price as RTX 4080. 7900XT is like 10% more expensive than 4070 Ti. Most people WON'T buy AMD unless it gets them alot more performance for the money.

I am considering 7900XTX but price makes me consider going 4080. Almost identical.

Intel might be a bigger threat for Nvidia, especially if they makes their GPUs themself instead of using TSMC, might actually be doable once they start using Intel 4 node which should be comparable to TSMC 4-5 nm.
 

wiyosaya

Posts: 8,526   +8,013
Intel should just shut up and work, despite being a gigantic company they are not doing well and continually failing in many points.

Intel GPUs only exist because AMD allows it through its IP license, so no... less arrogance, intel. it helps.
And my comment to this thread - Of course Intel would say they are catching up to AMD. That does not make it true, however.
 

AndreV

Posts: 25   +7
Intel should just shut up and work, despite being a gigantic company they are not doing well and continually failing in many points.

Intel GPUs only exist because AMD allows it through its IP license, so no... less arrogance, intel. it helps.
Intel should just shut up and work, despite being a gigantic company they are not doing well and continually failing in many points.

Intel GPUs only exist because AMD allows it through its IP license, so no... less arrogance, intel. it helps.
So I remember correctly that AMD helped Intel build its GPU's. Thats what I've remember reading some year ago but meanwhile nobody mentioned it again - no comment and no article, so I began to wonder, but you reconfirmed it.
 

Julnor

Posts: 93   +108
If Intel can surpass AMD on drivers they'll obviously end up surpassing AMD at some point for GPU marketshare. That's not going to be easy but it's possible. Nvidia is just way too far ahead on driver and software stack, but the industry sorely needs competition and AMD has proven they aren't capable of it. At least Ryzen gave us another choice in the CPU sector, but the motherboard pricing is insane.

Part of me just wants China to make knockoff choices that are like 90% as good for 60% of the price and then break in like 3 years.
 

Avro Arrow

Posts: 3,487   +4,524
I've heard A LOT of people debunking the "nVidia has over 80% of the market", enough to give it credence because I can't disagree that if it were true, AMD would've stopped producing Radeons long ago. You can't invest in R&D with less than 20% of the market and still remain competitive for as long as they have.
 

WhiteLeaff

Posts: 128   +208
So I remember correctly that AMD helped Intel build its GPU's. Thats what I've remember reading some year ago but meanwhile nobody mentioned it again - no comment and no article, so I began to wonder, but you reconfirmed it.
The fact is that nobody can create a competitive GPU for PC without touching some Nvidia or AMD IP, so Intel had a billion-dollar agreement with Nvidia to avoid lawsuits, and when the validity of the agreement ended, they closed a similar agreement with AMD. In other words, AMD itself earns more than Intel with these GPUs.
 

Theinsanegamer

Posts: 3,997   +7,113
It can't afford to. The operating margin in its Gaming sector is just 14% and while the PS5/Xbox SoC accounts for a significant portion of that sector's revenue, AMD doesn't want to be in a situation where the margin doesn't even break double figures.
If AMD is only getting a 14% margin with their Nvidia tier gouging then they are royally screwing up. Guess that whole "holding back inventory" plan didn't work too well.
I've heard A LOT of people debunking the "nVidia has over 80% of the market", enough to give it credence because I can't disagree that if it were true, AMD would've stopped producing Radeons long ago. You can't invest in R&D with less than 20% of the market and still remain competitive for as long as they have.
Debunking with what numbers? Steam survey isn't helping you out and neither is JPR.
 

dirtyferret

Posts: 837   +1,137
I've heard A LOT of people debunking the "nVidia has over 80% of the market", enough to give it credence because I can't disagree that if it were true, AMD would've stopped producing Radeons long ago. You can't invest in R&D with less than 20% of the market and still remain competitive for as long as they have.
Not sure what you mean by "debunking" as every financial report from gartner, JPR, or other places like statista and STEAM have Nvidia at 70%+ dedicated GPU market share quarter after quarter. That said, Intel still rules all GPU shipments at 60%+ market share each quarter with their integrated graphics.

You may be reading too many AMD fan boy theories who are feeling butt hurt because they can't separate the difference between market share and performance. Wait until these fan boys find out McDonalds hamburgers don't taste the best even though they have dominating market share among fast food restaurants.