AMD takes lead in discrete mobile graphics

Sunnyvale (CA) – AMD tells us that its ATI Mobility Radeon Premium graphics processors have found a home in more than half of today’s discrete graphics notebooks.

The company says it can now claim 53 percent of the discrete mobile market, with 87.3 percent more units sold quarter-over-quarter in the first six months of 2009.

According to AMD, the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4530 and ATI Mobility Radeon 4670 have scored over 200 design wins including the HP Pavilion dv6T, Alienware M17, Acer Aspire 5739G, Toshiba Satellite M500, Sony VAIO FW Series, Samsung R522, Asus W90Vp-X1, MSI GX623 and Dell Studio 15.

“As consumers increasingly demand greater visual computing capabilities in their notebooks, the market for discrete graphics is only expected to grow,” said Jon Peddie of Jon Peddie Research, whose Market Watch forms the basis for AMD’s claim.

“The increase in volume in the second quarter of this year, and in AMD’s mobile discrete market share, is a testament to consumers’ appetite for visual computing, and manufacturers’ readiness to satisfy it as we move into what has traditionally been the busiest season of the year.”

Figures from Peddie for the overall graphics market in Q2 show a different story, with AMD in third place with 18.4 percent of the market, behind Intel on 51.2 percent and Nvidia with 29.2 percent. 

It should also be remembered that the vast majority of notebooks come with integrated graphics rather than discrete.