Jon Peddie Research, a leading market watch firm, released Monday some preliminary numbers concerning the state of the graphics market in Q2 2006. While the overall market continued to grow and Intel Corp. remained on top, positions of ATI Technologies and Nvidia Corp., the two leading suppliers of discrete graphics chips, slightly changed and the gap between the two shrunk.

Jon Peddie Research estimates that approximately 71.4 million PC graphics devices shipped from major suppliers in Q2 2006, a 4.6% decline from the prior quarter and a 16.6% increase over the same period the previous year.

Intel saw a 1.5% sequential decline in graphics shipments in Q2 2006, but still was the largest supplier of PC graphics devices worldwide, and claimed an increased share of the total graphics market during the quarter. ATI remained the second largest supplier in Q2 2006 but with an 8.4% sequential decline in shipments and decreased market share. Nvidia was the third largest supplier in Q2 2006, with a 2.0% sequential increase in shipments and increased market share.

The desktop graphics segment saw shipments fall 7.0% from Q1 2006 to Q2 2006 but shipments grew 11.6% year-over-year. Integrated desktop shipments dropped 7.1% sequentially but increased 14.7% annually. Discrete desktop shipments fell 6.8% on a quarterly basis and grew 7.0% year-over-year.

JPR estimates that approximately 51.7 million desktop graphics devices shipped in Q2’06, 32.1 million or 62.1% of which were integrated parts.

Overall, Intel claimed 34.8% of the desktop graphics market, ATI held 26.3%, and Nvidia followed with 23.9% market share. In the discrete desktop segment, Nvidia held 51.5% share and ATI claimed 47.9% share during the period, a slight share increase for the Canadian company.

The mobile graphics segment saw quarterly shipments rise 2.2% and grow 31.9% year-over year. Integrated graphics core (IGC) shipments drove growth in the mobile market in the second quarter and integrated mobile was the only graphics segment to exhibit sequential growth during the period. Integrated mobile shipments rose 4.2% sequentially and grew 47.1% annually. Discrete mobile shipments fell 3.5% during the quarter and grew just 0.8% compared to the same period the previous year.

JPR estimates that a record 19.6 million mobile graphics devices shipped in Q2 2006, 14.7 million of which were integrated chipsets for notebooks. Mobile IGCs claimed share of 75.0% in the mobile graphics market, up from 73.5% share in the prior quarter and up from 67.3% share in the same period a year ago.

Intel led the mobile graphics market with 54.9% share, ATI held 31.0% share, and Nvidia followed with 10.9% market share. In the discrete mobile segment, ATI saw shipments decline on a quarterly basis while Nvidia saw shipments increase sequentially. Nvidia grew discrete mobile segment share from 25.0% in Q1 2006 to 36.7% in Q2 2006. ATI’s segment share fell from 74.6% in Q1 2006 to 63.1% in Q2 2006.

The Q2 2006 edition of Jon Peddie’s Market Watch will be available in August 2006 in both electronic and hard copy editions. A condensed version of Market Watch, entitled First Look, is available now.