According to John Peddy Research, the future of the desktop graphics card market is not bright. In the fourth quarter of 2022, global desktop graphics card shipments were down 24% compared to the same period last year. This is the biggest drop in 10 years. Moreover, Nvidia has an almost monopolistic market share (82%), and in fact, a market share of 9% is not a figure to brag about in front of shareholders.
But as part of a new entry into an already well-established market, it’s a remarkable feat. The Arc GPU received such notoriety that some doubted Intel was considering abandoning the entire multi-billion dollar project, and it suffered from delays. And Intel still isn’t ready to compete on high-end GPUs. Entering this space with a focus on entry-level products and specific performance goals, and seeing results in less than a year can be considered a win.
For example, the Arc A750, which recently lowered its official price from $290 to $250, was voted “Best 1080p GPU for Ray Tracing” by PC World. selected. The Arc A750 doesn’t have incredible performance that beats benchmarks enough to be used to build a $10,000 PC featured in YouTube content, but it’s gaining popularity among people who want to play PC games with a limited budget.
Intel spokesman Tom Peterson told PCWorld (The Full Nerd) podcast, “If you think about it, Intel is one of the few companies in the world that can break into such a large market as graphics. Maybe Nvidia will continue to ignore Intel, but AMD can’t ignore Intel, and as Intel moves in, it will be even more competitive.
Arc’s rise in the low-end product line cannot be ignored. It remains to be seen whether Intel can gain momentum here and claim a place in the high-performance GPU market as well, and if it’s ready to jump into the fray.
editor@itworld.co.kr
