JPR predicts death of IGP chipset market in 2013

Research firm Jon Peddie Research predicts chipsets with integrated graphics processors (IGP) will almost completely disappear by 2013. The analysts claim that after fifteen years of stellar growth, the IGP will simply cease to exist as it will be replaced by processors with integrated graphics.

The first processor with integrated graphics will be Intel's 32nm Westmere, this chip is expected in Q4 2009, while AMD's first Fusion processors are expected in Q2 2011. Jon Peddie Research states 67 percent of all graphics chips sold last year were IGPs, and expects this will drop to 20 percent in 2011, and by 2013 it will be less than one percent.

The report claims this trend will not impact the discrete graphics card market, Jon Peddie Research believes hybrid configurations with embedded graphics will enhance the discrete GPU sales. There will be marketshifts though:

For a period of time, between 2010 and 2012 there will be three choices for graphics available: traditional discrete GPUs mounted on add-in boards and/or the motherboard, integrated graphics processor (IGP) chipsets, and processors with embedded graphics. One or more of these devices will be employed in PCs.

Inevitably, market shares will shift as suppliers of IGPs like AMD, Intel, Nvidia, SiS, and VIA find the opportunities for chipsets diminishing and they will seek to develop new products that take advantage of their specific strengths. We can already see significant maneuvering between Intel and Nvidia as Nvidia strengthens its high end offerings with CUDA development tools and on the mobile side, the company has introduced the Tegra platform which relies on an ARM processor and Nvidia graphics. AMD is going head to head with Intel with Fusion, an embedded graphics CPU but it too is building out its workstation and visualization graphics. VIA and its S3 graphics subsidiary is playing its cards close to the chest but they are currently attempting to challenge Intel on price in key strategic markets such as netbooks.

The first integrated graphics controller (IGP) was Sun Microsystems’ LEGOS which came out in 1989 for its SPARC processor. The first integrated graphics controller for the PC was introduced by Silicon Integrated Systems – SiS, for Intel processors in 1997.