Abstract:
The global independent graphics card (AIB) market is experiencing an abnormal and strong burst of demand. According to the latest industry tracking report released by market research firm Jon Peddie Research (JPR), although the terminal average selling price (ASP) of independent graphics processors continues to rise, the global shipments of desktop independent graphics cards in the second quarter of 2026 still broke the record for the same period in previous years and ushered in an unprecedented shipment peak, demonstrating the amazing resilience of PC gamers and hardware enthusiasts.
According to the production and sales patterns of the traditional consumer electronics market, the second quarter of each year is usually a relatively off-season for hardware replacement, and shipments tend to show a mild decline compared with the previous quarter. However, in the second quarter of 2026, global desktop independent graphics card shipments achieved an anti-seasonal surge. Not only did they achieve significant quarter-on-quarter growth, but the year-on-year growth far exceeded industry consensus expectations. This trend of rising volume and price against the background of generally rising prices has completely shattered the previous pessimistic predictions by analysts about weak consumption in the consumer hardware market.
The report provides an in-depth analysis of the multiple underlying dynamics driving this wave of card purchasing frenzy. First of all, the configuration requirements of the new generation of AAA game masterpieces in terms of visual engines, panoramic path ray tracing technology and neural rendering algorithms have increased significantly, making old graphics cards increasingly difficult to cope with modern graphics loads, greatly activating the rigid replacement demands of the existing player group who have been in a wait-and-see state for a long time. Secondly, in addition to pure game entertainment, the widespread popularity of local lightweight end-side AI large model deployment, high-resolution AI content creation, professional video editing and other productivity scenarios has prompted a large number of individual creators and technology enthusiasts to consider upgrading to a new generation of independent graphics cards with large memory and high computing power as an essential hardware investment.
However, the rapid growth in shipments is accomplished against the grim background of rising hardware costs. Affected by the rising foundry costs of global advanced semiconductor process wafers and the continued tightening of the supply of high-bandwidth and large-capacity GDDR graphics memory, the terminal retail prices of graphics cards of all levels have experienced a certain degree of step-wise increase in the past few quarters. Still, consumers are showing an unusual sense of urgency to buy. Many buyers are worried that the global supply chain shortage may further intensify in the future, and that new products in the second half of the year may be accompanied by more aggressive price increases. They have chosen to enter the market decisively in the second quarter. This psychological expectation of "buying up, not buying down" has objectively accelerated the digestion of channel inventory and the expansion of total shipments.
In terms of supplier competition, the overall industry situation still shows a highly concentrated situation dominated by giants. Relying on its deep moat in the deep learning supersampling (DLSS) technology ecosystem and CUDA software stack, NVIDIA continues to firmly occupy the majority of the market share in terms of total shipments and overall sales; AMD relies on more friendly large memory configuration solutions and aggressive cost-effective strategies to maintain a solid defensive counterattack momentum in the mainstream dessert-level market; while Intel is also gradually establishing its presence in the entry-level independent graphics card market based on continuous optimization of drivers and ecological synergy.
Market analysts pointed out that the historic explosion of graphics card shipments in the second quarter of 2026 fully proves the irreplaceable core value of high-performance graphics computing and local PC hardware ecology. Although the increase in hardware prices has pushed up the installation threshold to a certain extent, as long as the software ecosystem can continue to provide a sufficiently stunning visual experience and practical end-side computing power support, the core consumer group's willingness to pay will remain strong. As major brands plan to launch more new products in different segments in the second half of the year, the supply and demand game and price trends in the global graphics card market will continue to become the core focus that affects the nerves of the entire DIY hardware industry.
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