There is no news that the market of standalone graphics cards for desktops has been declining for several quarters now despite of the fact that makers of graphics cards have so far been quite bullish about the future. Nevertheless, according to Taiwan-based media, even manufacturers of add-in boards admitted that the market is shrinking.

According to Jon Peddie Research, about 83.5 million discrete desktop graphics adapters were shipped in 2006, which is a tiny increase from the previous year. However, since mobile computers are becoming more and more popular, less desktops will be sold going forward, which is a threat for the market of standalone desktop graphics cards, according to anonymous manufacturers of add-in graphics boards who indicated that in a conversation with DigiTimes web-site. Another threat may be raising popularity of integrated graphics processors (IGPs) in the desktop segment.

The Taiwan-based web-site also claims that according to a report by Mercury Research, the compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of discrete graphics cards and IGP shipments for desktop systems will drop 3-5% from 2006 to 2011, while shipments for notebook IGPs will grow up to 23%.

The research firm further noted that Intel took the lead in graphics chip shipments in 2006 with 119 million units, while AMD-ATI trailed behind with 78 million units and Nvidia came in third with 76.12 million units.