A leading market tracking firm Jon Peddie Research said that n the fourth quarter of 2006 shipments of graphics adapters were generally flat compared to the third quarter after merely increasing 0.9%. Meanwhile, Advanced Micro Devices?graphics products group ATI has started to gain market share in the eroding desktop discrete market from Nvidia, who gained significantly in the mobile segment.

“Overall, we didn't see the big bang in Q4 this year everyone had hoped for. But, the mobile market is on fire, growing 13% this quarter and an astonishing 34% year-to-year. Nvidia is the big success story in that segment with the most growth, two quarters in a row,?said Jon Peddie, president of Jon Peddie Research.

Jon Peddie Research estimates that approximately 83.5 million PC graphics devices shipped from major suppliers in Q4 2006, a surprisingly small 0.9% increase from the prior quarter and a 5.1% increase over the same period the previous year.

Intel Corp. remained the largest supplier of graphics adapters for personal computers (PCs) in Q4 2006 with 37.4% of the market, while Nvidia Corp. ?the No. 2 supplier of graphics products ?stayed flat with the previous quarter (28.5% in Q4 vs. 28.8% in the Q3), whereas ATI managed to increase its overall share to 23% from 20.9% in the prior quarter.

Please note that due to an adjustment made to Q3 report from JPR since because of a change in “reporting and reporting people at the GPU suppliers? the research firm reported lower Nvidia's chipsets with built-in graphics core desktop share in Q3. As a result, shares of ATI, Intel, SiS and Via for Q3 declined, whereas Nvidia's - increased.

John Peddie Research estimates that approximately 57.6 million desktop graphics devices shipped in Q4 2006. Overall, Intel held at 31.8% of the desktop graphics market, AMD increased to 22.8%, while Nvidia declined to 31.0% market share. In the discrete desktop segment, Nvidia also declined, to 53.8% share, and AMD grew to a 46.2% share during the period due to successful launch of very popular Radeon X1950 Pro and Radeon X1650 XT products.

The desktop graphics segment saw shipments decline by 4.0% from Q3 2006 to Q4 2006 and shipments shrunk 4.2% year-to-year. Desktop integrated graphics processor (IGP) shipments dropped 2.9% sequentially (the second consecutive quarter of decline) and decreased 1.5% annually. Discrete desktop dropped by 6.0% on a quarterly basis and 8.9% year-to-year.

?place>Vista, ATI's new part (the R600), and several new add-in boards (AIBs) from Nvidia are expected to pump up the declining desktop discrete market,?Mr. Peddie said.

The mobile graphics segment saw quarterly shipments rise a dramatic 13.8% and grow 34.1% year-to-year. Mobile IGP shipments drove growth in the laptop market in the second quarter with 13.0% increase in shipments during the period, and discrete mobile shipments grew a stunning 16.2% during the quarter and jumped 24.2% compared to the same period the previous year.

“The laptop market has moved to the large-screen, multimedia usage model,?said Mr. Peddie. “Now the criterion for performance is being able to play a full-length movie on one battery charge.

JPR estimates that a record 25.8 million mobile graphics devices shipped in Q4 2006, 19.7 million of which were integrated chipsets (IGPs) for notebooks. Mobile IGPs claimed a commanding share of 76.3% in the mobile graphics market, up 13.0% from the prior quarter and up a dramatic 37.6% from the same period a year ago. Intel led the mobile graphics market with a 49.8% share (down from 51.4%), AMD dropped to a 23.4% share, and Nvidia jumped with a 22.9% market share gain for the quarter; both SiS and VIA saw declines in market share.

In the discrete mobile segment, AMD saw shipments decline on a quarterly basis while Nvidia saw shipments increase sequentially. Nvidia grew discrete mobile segment share from 53% in Q3?6 to 59.1% in Q4 2006. AMD's segment share fell from 47.0% in Q3 2006 to 40.9% in Q4 2006.

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