GPUs are still shipping at a frantic rate despite market pressure — I didn't expect Intel to post the only growth

Despite an ongoing memory crunch that's affecting wide swaths of the tech market, a new report from Jon Peddie Research (JPR) reveals that NVIDIA, AMD, and Intel discrete GPU shipments in Q1 2026 remained relatively flat compared to the previous quarter.

As JPR points out (via PC Gamer), the first quarter of the year is generally expected to be flat. Consumers are tapped out after the holiday season, and the major sales events in the tech market are yet to arrive.

In any case, I wasn't expecting the market to hold as strongly as it did, considering the inflated prices that most GPUs are currently experiencing and the lack of any new card launches.

Approximately 11.8 million GPUs were shipped in Q1 2026, with NVIDIA making up the bulk of the hardware.

In Q1 2026, JPR posits that NVIDIA and AMD's overall market share both dropped by 0.4%, whereas Intel increased by 0.4%. That means that NVIDIA fell from 91% in Q4 2025 to 90% in Q1 2026. AMD remained at 8%, and Intel remained at 1% market share, comparatively.

What's more impressive is that the attach rate for discrete GPUs in desktop PCs climbed to 76%, a 33.2% increase from the previous quarter. That's a huge jump. Conversely, JPR also notes a significant 25% year-over-year CPU market drop and a 24% quarter-over-quarter drop.

The GPU results, at least, look good at first glance, but there's some nuance to the numbers.

JPR is known to track all GPU shipments rather than direct point-of-sale purchases to the likes of you or me. That means the data includes GPUs gobbled up by OEMs and other manufacturers, who are undoubtedly attempting to stockpile hardware as prices continue to rise.

I don't doubt these efforts are skewing the numbers, and future reports like these could show far worse results.

AMD's GPU struggles continue as NVIDIA holds its market dominance

If I break down the overall 11.82 million shipments in Q1 2026, it works out to roughly 10.7 million units for NVIDIA, 1 million units for AMD, and 100,000 or so for Intel.

Despite only dropping 0.4% in Q1 2026, AMD's struggle to gain ground on NVIDIA continues.

Looking at Steam's May 2026 GPU hardware survey, the first AMD GPU shows up in 13th place, and it's not a discrete card but rather integrated Radeon Graphics.

In 25th place is the first actual discrete AMD GPU, the Radeon RX 9070 XT, with a 1.33% share of use on Steam.

The rest of those top 25 spots? Completely dominated by NVIDIA, aside from integrated Intel Iris Xe Graphics in 16th place with a 1.79% share.

Windows Central's take

Despite recent news from AMD regarding its FSR 4.1 tech coming to some of its older RX 7000 and RX 6000 GPUs, NVIDIA largely dominates the news cycle with its cutting-edge PC gaming advancements that AMD always seems to be chasing.

I can attest that many of those advancements feel like they border on magic. My RTX 5070 Ti has been treating me very well since I bought it last year, and I'm constantly amazed at the capabilities of DLSS and the overall performance the card can deliver across all games.

There's also the fact that NVIDIA dominates the high-end GPU market. And when I say dominate, I mean there's really no AMD alternative to an RTX 5080 or RTX 5090.

Considering how popular these cards are not just for developers, designers, and editors, but also AI professionals, you can see why AMD is having such a hard time clawing back market share.

I do hope that changes. NVIDIA might hold the biggest market share by far, but that doesn't mean it's perfect. An AMD Radeon revival would only benefit the overall market, providing NVIDIA with some much-needed competition.

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