Cryptocurrency miners bought 700,000 GPUs in the first quarter (Q1) of 2021, according to a report by Jon Peddie Research. Since the launch of the Ampere for graphics cards (GPUs) in September 2020, questions about how much of the shortage was caused by semiconductors and how much by cryptocurrency demand. Reports over the past 10 months have pointed to a variety of additional causes, including low yields at Samsung, GDDR6 memory shortages, and Ajinomoto Build-up Film (ABF) shortages. New work from Jon Peddie Research now fills in some of the gaps in how much cryptocurrency is contributing to this shortage.
According to JPR, GPU component prices have increased by up to 70% . The data shown in the table below does not include the laptop market. Additionally, “DT PC w/o WS” stands for “Desktop PC w/o Workstations,” meaning Quadro and Radeon Pro shipments are not included here.
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Attach rates – the percentage of PCs that have a discrete graphics card – have been declining in the desktop market, with a noticeable drop occurring around the end of 2020. However, even though the graphics attach rate has decreased once again, the total number of AIBs (Add-In Boards) sold has increased significantly. In other words, we are not seeing a huge increase in demand because OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers) like Dell, HP, and Lenovo are suddenly selling a lot of systems with high-end graphics cards. We are seeing a huge increase in AIB shipments, due to cryptocurrency mining. The last time AIB shipments increased this much was in 2017-2018.
See also: Is Nvidia designing the fastest Cryptocurrency mining GPU?
JPR estimates that cryptocurrency miners purchased 700,000 mid- and high-end GPUs in the first quarter of 2021 alone, representing about 25% of the AIB market and about half a billion dollars in cash. None of this revenue flows to Nvidia or AMD – but is tied to channel partners. Additionally, JPR highlights that electricity prices in Mongolia are around 4.5 cents per kW, explaining how these farms remain profitable.
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We don’t know how much cryptocurrency mining “ate” up in the market in Q2 2021, but consuming 25% of the available market is more than enough to cause a supply shortage. This would also explain why manufacturers have been unable to compensate for the supply shortages that are plaguing the entire industry. This will only make the problem worse.
It is not yet clear whether gamers can expect some relief during Q3 – Q4 of the year, or if they will have to wait until 2022.
Information source: extremetech.com
