Inflection point
Graphics market guru Jon Peddie Research has done a study into the market changes brought about by the arrival of Embedded Processor Graphics (EPG) - as found in the Intel ‘dales - and Heterogenous Processor Units (HPU) as set to debut in AMD's first ‘fusion' procesors.
Calling this move ‘a genuine inflection point' Peddie concludes that the rise of the EPG and HPU is set to eradicate the Integrated Graphics processor (IGP), as historically found in motherboard chipsets, within five years, with most of that decline coming in the next couple of years.
Furthermore, with the graphics capabilities of these hybrid processors being adequate for most tasks bar high-end gaming and video, and the price pressure on PCs greater than ever, OEMs will be more tempted than ever to cut down on the bill-of-materials. This means discrete graphic cards are set to decline significantly too, with Peddie predicting they'll account for only ten percent of the graphics market by 2015.
The JPR report concludes: "The EPG/HPU will truly revolutionize the PC and associated industries. The amount of computation capability available in the size, weight, power consumption of systems equipped with EPG/HPUs, and for the price they will be offered, will upset the market dynamics like never before, and maybe not since the introduction of the PC."
Here's JPR's table summarising its projections.
|
Total PC Embedded/Integrated Components market share |
||||||||
|
|
2008 |
2009 |
2010 |
2011 |
2012 |
2013 |
2014 |
2015 |
|
Embedded HPU |
0.0% |
0.0% |
0.1% |
2.6% |
9.2% |
16.9% |
21.3% |
24.7% |
|
Embedded EPG |
0.0% |
0.0% |
22.8% |
42.9% |
54.0% |
56.6% |
55.5% |
53.9% |
|
IGP |
67.3% |
71.2% |
46.7% |
25.3% |
10.2% |
1.9% |
0.3% |
0.0% |
|
Discrete |
32.7% |
28.8% |
30.3% |
28.5% |
22.7% |
17.6% |
14.1% |
10.0% |
|
Area of Contention |
0.0% |
0.0% |
0.0% |
0.7% |
3.8% |
7.0% |
8.8% |
11.4% |
