The supply and demand for PC graphics cards, which started in the second half of last year, is turning to the worst phase ever due to the surge in game demand and cryptocurrency mining.
As the governments of each country took a blockade due to Corona 19, demand for graphics cards increased to enjoy the game, and money that had lost short-term investments was rushing to the cryptocurrency market.
However, Nvidia and AMD, the two largest graphics card manufacturers, are unable to increase their graphics chipset production any more. It is still unclear when this deadlock will improve.
■ Increasing demand for games and cryptocurrency mining
It is correct to assume that the supply and demand shortage of graphics chipsets that are occurring as of February of this year began in 2017. At the time, as the demand for cryptocurrency mining soared, AMD Radeon graphics cards, which were evaluated as having excellent computational efficiency compared to the NVIDIA GeForce series, were in short supply.
However, as cryptocurrency mining fell into a lull from the end of 2017, FPS (first-person shooting) games such as Overwatch, Battleground, and Fortnite, which are traditional sources of graphics cards, emerged.
In particular, Battle Ground, one of the representative high-end games, fueled demand for graphics card upgrades.
Also, after the Corona 19 pandemic, games that can be safely enjoyed in the house have gained popularity. Although the fluctuation range is small compared to Bitcoin, which fluctuates in the market price, a lot of resources are being invested in Ethereum mining, which can generate stable returns.
■ Graphics cards that are brought to the mining farm immediately after production
Much of the production of the latest graphics cards such as NVIDIA GeForce RTX 30 series graphics cards and AMD Radeon RX 6800/6900 that are currently being produced is being absorbed in China and Russia.
In particular, in China, where major graphics card manufacturers are located, graphics cards with GeForce RTX 3080, which have superior Ethereum mining performance compared to other products, are being sold in large quantities as soon as they leave the factory door.
At the end of last year, more than 220 GeForce RTX 3090 graphics cards with a market price of 380 million won were stolen at an MSI factory in China. When a single graphic card cannot be obtained, even gaming laptops are being mobilized for cryptocurrency mining.
■ Reproduction of old graphic chipsets…
Given this situation, the amount of graphics cards that must be supplied to general consumers is gradually decreasing.
Nvidia also delayed the release date of the GeForce RTX 3060-equipped graphics card once to secure initial stock. However, an official from a domestic distribution company of a foreign manufacturer who requested anonymity explained that “the quantity received by each company is a little over double digits.”
Nvidia is working hard to disperse demand by re-producing graphics chipsets that have been temporarily stopped, such as the GeForce RTX 2070 released in 2019 and the GeForce GTX 1050 Ti released in 2016.
In addition, when mining Ethereum on the GeForce RTX 3060 graphics card, which will be released this week, measures have been taken to cut the efficiency in half. However, graphics card makers are not expecting such Nvidia measures to be effective.
■ Supply expansion is also difficult.. “I just wait for a decrease in demand”
Currently, in the graphics chipset market, demand continues to exceed supply. Nvidia is also considering expanding its chipset production to TSMC as well as Samsung Electronics, but it is almost impossible to secure additional production volume of TSMC.
In particular, AMD is using most of the 7nm process that can digest the quantity produced by Samsung Electronics’ 8N process. AMD is also prioritizing the production of processors for console game consoles such as the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X, so it is difficult to secure production of Ryzen processors and Radeon graphics chipsets.
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Not a few consumers choose to play games on a console instead of a PC, or choose cloud-based game streaming. ‘Diablo 2: Resurrection’, another masterpiece to be released in the early 3rd quarter, is also regarded as a ambush that will fuel the demand for upgrades.
Officials of each manufacturer and distributor who responded to the interview also agreed and said, “The situation can be improved only if either the game demand or the mining demand is reduced, but no one can guarantee when this will happen.”