Desktop discrete graphics card shipments reached 12.5 million units in the second quarter of 2026, the highest quarterly total since the first quarter of 2022, even as prices climbed to records and desktop CPU shipments cratered. The figure represents a 5.9% sequential increase and a 7.8% rise from the same quarter a year earlier, pushing first-half 2026 shipments to 24.3 million against 20.8 million in the first half of 2025. Nvidia captured roughly 90% of the desktop add-in board market, shipping about 11.25 million units, its strongest desktop quarter since the third quarter of 2017.
The numbers
Jon Peddie Research reports that only about 14 million desktop PCs were sold during the quarter, implying an unusually high 89% attach rate for standalone graphics cards. That ratio suggests the vast majority of boards went to retail buyers rather than system integrators. AMD shipped roughly one million desktop GPUs for an 8% share, while Intel moved several hundred thousand units to reach 2%. Market share shifts were marginal: AMD lost 0.16 percentage points quarter-over-quarter, Intel gained 0.3 points, and Nvidia slipped 0.1 points.
The Nvidia dominance
Nvidia’s total discrete GPU shipments across all form factors reached approximately 17.365 million in the quarter, with 6.115 million units going into notebooks and compact PCs. AMD and Intel have effectively exited the standalone mobile GPU market, leaving Nvidia as the sole supplier in that segment. For AMD, the one million desktop units represent an improvement over the roughly 700 thousand sold in the second quarter of 2025, but the company has hovered at or below the one million mark for nearly four years, with only three quarters breaking that ceiling since 2022.
The demand puzzle
"Defying common wisdom, high-end AIB sales spiked as prices increased," said Jon Peddie, president of JPR. "Our theory is consumers rushed to buy AIBs before the prices went any higher, as the war in Iran is driving prices up in all segments." The research firm posits that gamers are front-loading purchases in anticipation of further cost increases, rendering the typical price-elasticity curve inoperative for now.
What to watch
The sustainability of this volume at elevated price points remains the open question. If the Iran conflict continues to pressure supply chains, the pull-forward effect may exhaust itself once inventory normalizes or discretionary budgets snap. The next quarterly report will show whether the 12.5 million unit pace reflects a new structural floor or a one-time hoarding cycle.