The recent decline in profits for miners has led to a dampening of demand for graphics cards and many suppliers are planning to cut prices to clear their inventory. Due to the fall in cryptocurrency prices and a large increase in mining difficulty, mining growth has ground to a near halt.
Dwindling profits has meant many small-scale mining operations have left the market and large players have cut their budgets for new machines.
According to sources in the supply chain, this lower demand means graphics card prices are expected to drop by as much as 20 percent in July, bringing prices to figures that resemble the original manufacturer’s suggested retail price.
Companies which will likely see revenue impacted are Nvidia, AMD and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC). Nvidia, the most prominent GPU manufacturer, is reported to have a supply of over one million GPUs in its warehouses and its next-generation GPUs made using TSMC’s 12nm and 7nm processes are now expected to be postponed to late fourth-quarter 2018, or until inventory returns to safe levels, the sources said.
Cryptocurrency mining was one of the largest trends last year, with mining hashrates growing at an exponential rate. Ethereum, one of the most popular mined currencies, saw its hashrate grow by over 25 times last year. Additionally, prices for mining hardware rapidly increased, reaching unsustainable prices that were often unaffordable for common consumers and gamers.
