Although with its entry into the mid-range graphics card market, the chip giant has made a strong impression.
There has been a two-horse race in the graphics card market for many years. Since 1993, NVIDIA has been in the business, and in 2006, AMD acquired ATI to enter the market.
In the long run, NVIDIA has generally outperformed AMD in market share as they compete head-to-head.
CPU giant Intel entered the market this year as a third player. The company has been in the graphics business for a long time, including incorporating graphics chips into many of its PC CPUs and briefly selling stand-alone graphics cards in the late 1990s.
Despite the explosion of graphical complexity in video games and graphics cards’ applications beyond gaming, Intel has largely been left behind.
The New Player in Town
Although there was some sloppy execution along the way, Intel emerged from the shadows.
Initially launched in China, Intel’s Arc A380 graphics card targeted the lower end of the market. Issues with software drivers made things worse, as the game performance was inconsistent and unreliable.
Using Intel’s integrated graphics software as a basis, Intel tried to cut corners on the software side.
In launching its midrange Arc A750 and Arc A770 graphics cards, Intel had to play catch-up with software that didn’t deliver adequate performance.
As Intel struggled to bring competent products to market, rumours surfaced that the project would be scrapped.
Intel eventually launched those graphics cards, and they received generally positive reviews. Its performance for the price makes the Arc A770, priced at $329, a strong mainstream competitor, according to Tom’s Hardware. While the software was still a problem at launch, especially for older games, Intel has made progress in fixing them.
Despite its best efforts, Intel could not ship 4 million graphics cards this year. This was caused by software issues that pushed back launch dates. In 2023 and beyond, however, the company is well-positioned to play a major role in mainstream graphics cards.
Let’s Get It While We Can
According to Jon Peddie Research, the discrete graphics card market is expected to grow to $39 billion by 2026, up from just under $32 billion.
As a result of excess inventory of last-generation graphics cards, board partners are cutting back on orders in a market in flux. There has been a decline in PC demand as well. This resulted in a decline of nearly 32% in unit shipments in the third quarter.
Although the market is tough, Intel’s cards are priced aggressively enough to make an impact. As a result, the company competes only in the mid-range, with the A750 and A770 priced at $289 and $329, respectively.
According to the company’s hardware and software survey, NVIDIA mid-range graphics cards are among the top seven most-used graphics cards on Steam. Intel is targeting a high-volume market segment by focusing on the midrange.
As AMD’s experience shows, Intel may never even seriously attempt to compete at the high end. Although AMD’s latest graphics cards are its most impressive in years, they still fall short in performance, especially regarding ray tracing. It’s unlikely that Intel will make a run at the high end anytime soon.
Despite Intel’s focus on mid-range and low-end graphics cards, a large share of the $39 billion market will be available. PC OEM relationships certainly give the company a leg up, and its software will only improve.
With billions of dollars in revenue up for grabs each year, Intel looks poised to become a strong player in the graphics card market.