Jun 18, 2021 10:56:00

Predicted that 25% of GPUs sold from January to March 2021 were purchased for mining purposes

GPU is originally a processor specialized in image processing of PC, but in recent years, due to the rapid increase in demand for mining of virtual currency, there is a shortage of high-spec GPU for gamers, and the price is rising. Market research firm Jon Peddie Research (JPR) has released a forecast that '25% of graphic boards shipped in the first quarter of 2021 (January-March) were purchased for cryptocurrency mining purposes'. increase.

Crypto-mining's half a billion dollar impact on AIB sales | Jon Peddie Research

https://www.jonpeddie.com/blog/crypto-minings-half-a-billion-dollar-impact-on-aib-sales

Cryptominers grabbed 25% of all GPUs at the start of 2021 | PC Gamer
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/cryptominers-grabbed-25-of-all-gpus-at-the-start-of-2021/

The causes of the soaring prices of graphic boards are the increase in demand due to working from home and the soaring prices of parts other than GPU such as voltage regulators, capacitors, and GDDR memory. However, JPR says that it is due to investors and cryptocurrency miners that the price of graphic boards has risen abnormally in recent years, such as the terminal price on the Internet auction site eBay jumping to 2.5 to 4 times the list price. I'm pointing out.

The graph below shows changes in the number of desktop PCs shipped (gray line) excluding workstations, the

installation rate of graphic boards (black line), and the installation rate other than mining applications (light blue line). The number of desktop PC shipments has been declining in the long run, despite the wave. And from 2017 to 2018, when the mounting rate of graphic boards peaked, the mounting rate for non-mining applications also increased by more than 5%.

However, if you look at the graph, you can also see that although the mounting rate of graphic boards has increased again since 2020, there is no change in the mounting rate other than for mining applications. From this, JPR pointed out that many of the graphic boards shipped in recent years are used for mining virtual currencies.

And according to JPR, 700,000 high-end and mid-range graphics boards were shipped in the first quarter of 2021. That's a market value of $ 500 million, of which about 25% is expected to be purchased by mining and investors.

NVIDIA has released a dedicated mining processor ' Cryptocurrency Mining Processor (CMP) ' that does not have video output, and by setting hash limits on the RTX 30 series of high-end GPUs for gaming, in virtual currency mining and gaming applications I'm trying to make a distinction. On the other hand, AMD, which releases the Radeon series, does not break the stance that 'users for mining are also customers' and does not impose mining restrictions. 'Gamers will be more supportive of NVIDIA's perspective than AMD's liberalism,' JPR commented.