increase in demand

In 2025, there has been an unexpected surge in CPU and GPU shipments, contrary to the typical summer lull in PC hardware sales. This increase is attributed to fears of new U.S. import tariffs, leading both manufacturers and consumers to purchase proactively. The client PC industry experienced a "panic-build quarter," with retailers and consumers, especially gamers, rushing to secure hardware before potential price hikes. Discrete desktop graphics cards saw a 27% rise quarter-over-quarter and a 22% increase year-over-year, driven by new offerings from major vendors. Nvidia captured a 94% share of the add-in board market. This surge is atypical for the second quarter, which usually sees a decline, and is influenced by the threat of tariffs, prompting consumers to buy now to avoid higher future costs. JPR termed this phenomenon "buying ahead of tariffs," warning that it could lead to weaker performance in Q3 and Q4. The buying frenzy coincided with the launch of Nvidia's Blackwell cards and AMD's RDNA 4 GPUs, with flagship GPUs experiencing rising prices and shortages. The current consumer behavior reflects panic buying rather than natural growth, raising questions about the sustainability of this momentum as the year progresses.