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Physical distancing and restrictions have made many people want to buy new graphics cards for their gaming computers. But like the new generation of video game consoles, the demand has been so great that powerful new graphics cards have been hard to come by.
Another reason for the shortage is that so-called miners, people who use computer power to perform complicated calculations to mine cryptocurrencies, have taken over the cards.
Nvidia’s Geforce series graphics cards can be reprogrammed for use by professional cryptocurrency developers like Ethereum.
Capacity drowns
America’s Nvidia, which has overtaken Intel and AMD as the highest-rated semiconductor maker, has benefited greatly from it.
According to CFO Colette Kress, cryptocurrency mining contributed between 100 million and 300 million to Nvidia’s sales during the fourth quarter of the broken financial year.
At the same time, the company claims that it is primarily a company for gamers, and that the graphics cards are also adapted for gamers. Developers who use graphics cards do not benefit much from the functionality that is put into the cards.
Last week, the company announced that it is restricting extraction capacity by 50 percent on the latest Geforce RTX 3060 model as drivers discover certain parts of the extraction algorithm.
The stock is going up
Instead, Nvidia is releasing a series of graphics chips that lack video outputs and consume less power, specially adapted for miners. The new chips, called CMP, are expected to sell for $ 50 million in the first fiscal year, according to Reuters.
“They do not meet the required specifications for a Geforce card and therefore do not affect the availability of Geforce cards to gamers,” writes Nvidia.
So the hope is that gamers will be able to buy the graphics cards, but that Nvidia can still mint coins from crypto winners.
The fourth quarter of the interrupted fiscal year, which ended on January 31, posted record sales of $ 5 billion. Nvidia expects sales to increase to $ 5.3 billion in the current quarter, more than analysts’ estimate of $ 4.82 billion. Participation increased 3 percent in the secondary market.
Gustav Sjöholm / TT
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