Integrated Graphics Chip Market to Disappear by 2012 According to Jon Peddie Research

Jon Peddie Research (JPR), the industry's research and consulting firm for graphics and multimedia, today announced a new study that indicates the end of the market for the popular integrated graphics processor chipset, known as the IGP.

After fifteen years of stellar growth the IGP, will cease to exist, replaced by graphics embedded in the processor. Integrated graphics are used in desktop and net top PCs, notebooks, and netbooks, and various embedded systems such as point of sale, set-top boxes, and signage systems.

In 2008 67% of the graphics chips shipped were IGPs. In 2011 it will drop to 20%, and by 2013 it will be less than one percent.

However, this will not, as many believe, impact the discrete graphics and add-in board market. In fact, with hybrid configuration, embedded graphics will enhance the discrete GPU sales.

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.

The first embedded graphics processor will be Intel's Westmere in Q4 2009, AMD will introduce their Fusion processor in Q2 2011, and both companies will employ 32nm process.