Data for the second quarter of 2026 shows that the graphics card market share maintained its growth trend despite price increases. Globally, 12.5 million external graphics cards were shipped, the highest level in the last four years.

Shipments of these external graphics cards, classified as AIB for desktop computers, increased by 10 percent compared to the previous quarter and by 6.6 percent compared to the same period last year. While second-quarter periods are classically quieter, this picture in 2026 is clearly different from previous years.

Market Leader NVIDIA and Manufacturers’ Performance

NVIDIA continues to control approximately 90 percent of the market with approximately 11.25 million units shipped in the second quarter. With this performance, the company achieved its highest single-quarter non-desktop GPU shipments since the third quarter of 2017.

AMD’s market share remained at approximately 8 percent, while the company shipped approximately 1 million non-desktop GPUs during the quarter. Intel managed to increase its share to 2 percent.

Compared to the previous quarter, AMD’s market share decreased by 0.16 points, and NVIDIA’s share decreased by 0.1 points. Intel, on the other hand, recorded an increase of 0.3 points during this period.

The rate at which AIB cards are connected to desktop computers also increased to 89 percent in the second quarter. This represents a remarkable increase of 23 points compared to the previous quarter.

During the same period, desktop PC processor shipments fell to approximately 14 million units. The CPU market shrank by 33 percent year-on-year and 10.5 percent quarter-on-quarter.

Price Increases and Future Expectations

This increase in graphics card shipments occurred during a period of rising memory costs and overall hardware prices. Experts note that high-end graphics card sales increased despite the price hikes.

It is thought that consumers may have accelerated their purchasing processes out of concern that prices will rise further. In addition, it is said that the war in Iran is putting pressure on prices in different product segments.

A 2.5% annual compound-rate contraction is expected in the AIB market for the period between 2025 and 2030. It is projected that the number of AIB-based graphics cards in use will reach 193 million by the end of this period.

How do you think this upward trend in graphics card prices will affect sales in the coming period?