GPU graphics card mining industry demand weakens, Nvidia turns sales target to the gaming market

Tencent Technology News According to some market sources, the demand for GPUs in the cryptocurrency mining industry has recently shown signs of slowing down, and Nvidia has begun to take measures in the hope of minimizing possible losses.

TSMC Chairman Morris Chang recently said he expects the company to achieve 10% to 15% revenue growth in the first half of 2018, mainly due to demand from the cryptocurrency mining industry. Market observers believe that many cryptocurrency miners may turn to suppliers such as Bitmain to purchase application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs).

Bitmain is preparing to release a dedicated integrated circuit product in April. It has been eyeing the cryptocurrency industry that relies on GPU mining and expects the move to reduce miners' demand for GPU graphics cards.

Policies issued by governments around the world regarding cryptocurrencies and the sharp rise and fall in cryptocurrency prices have also reduced the returns of the cryptocurrency mining industry.

In light of this trend, Nvidia recently began to impose restrictions on its downstream graphics card partners, prohibiting them from publicly promoting cryptocurrency mining activities or actively selling consumer graphics card products to miners, according to people familiar with the matter. Nvidia hopes to shift its main sales target to consumers in the gaming market, the people added.

Nvidia has also recently further raised its GPU quotes, which industry insiders believe is to make up for the possible gap that may occur after GPU demand begins to decline.

It is reported that as the profitability of graphics cards has been declining, both Nvidia and AMD have slowed down the development of new GPU architectures and extended the life cycle of existing GPU platforms. People familiar with the matter added that Nvidia's next-generation GPU architecture Turing will not enter the mass production stage until the third quarter.