Server CPUs were up 3% from last quarter.
TIBURON, CA (May 11, 2026) — Jon Peddie Research reports that the global client CPU market expanded for four quarters in a row, and in Q1’26, it dropped -15%, more than seasonality would predict from last quarter, while server CPU shipments increased 13.6% year over year.
Q1 is typically down due to seasonality as retail and the channel try to get rid of leftover holiday inventory and make way for the new products. Some of the growth in 2025 was due to buying ahead of the tariffs and the end of Windows 10. Besides inventory purging, the cost of RAM and the oil war in Iran are driving up prices beyond consumers’ tolerance or need.
The overall server CPU market increased by 3% quarter to quarter and by 13.6% year to year.
“We think the PC CPUs’ growth was out of line with seasonal buying behavior, because of the inflationary pressure due to the war in Iran, and the run-up of RAM prices due to the surge in AI. We expect Q2’26 to continue the trend, even if the war stopped today, its after effects, and Trump’s tariffs will batter the markets for a while.
Pricing and availability
JPR’s Overview of PC Client CPUs and iGPUs report is now available for free to Market Watch subscribers and can be purchased separately for $250.
The upcoming Q4’25 edition of Market Watch will contain the above information and more. For easier consumption, we have revised the Overview format from a heavily narrated version to a more visually appealing chart-based version. We have also added server and client CPU shipment data back to Q1’21 and GPU-compute (GPGPU) shipment data back to Q1’21 for AMD, Intel, and Nvidia. We have expanded the pivot data array to include those devices.
A single issue of JPR’s full Market Watch sells for $3,000. This report includes an Excel workbook with the data used to create the charts, the charts themselves, and supplemental information. The annual subscription price for JPR’s Market Watch is $6,000 and includes four quarterly issues.
Click here to view the table of contents and more related to this significant report or to download it now. For more information, call (415) 435-9368 or visit the Jon Peddie Research website at www.jonpeddie.com.
JPR is now also offering two new reports: on AI coprocessors and RISC-V processors.
JPR also publishes a series of reports on the graphics add-in board market, the workstation market, and PC gaming hardware market. The latter covers the total market, including systems and accessories, and examines 31 countries.
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About Jon Peddie Research
Jon Peddie Research has been active in the graphics and multimedia fields for more than 30 years. JPR is a technically oriented multimedia and graphics research and consulting firm. Based in Tiburon, California, JPR provides consulting, research, and other specialized services to technology companies in various fields, including graphics development, multimedia for professional applications and consumer electronics, high-end computing, and Internet-access product development. JPR’s Market Watch is a quarterly report focused on PC graphics controllers’ market activity for notebook and desktop computing.
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