Nvidia, known manufacturers of high-end graphics processing units (GPU), recently stated that they are trying to keep up with the demands for said devices. The company cited that the larger portion of the demand comes from gamers, although cryptocurrency miners also contribute a fair share to the problem.
Nvidia's Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress stated that "Strong demand in the cryptocurrency market exceeded our expectations." She added that cryptocurrency miners accounted for a larger percent of their revenue compared to the previous quarter. However, she also said that the rise in percentage is "difficult to quantify."
While cryptocurrency miners are apparently becoming one of their major customers, Kress said that they would not be relying on that market. Nvidia believes that the cryptocurrency market is still volatile and the company would like to focus on their core consumers— the gamers.
However, it seems that the gamers' demand for more graphics cards is mostly because cryptocurrency miners are "snatching" the GPUs off the market, which leads to frustrated gamers that cannot find affordable deals on the graphics card market.
Nvidia's Chief Executive Officer Jensen Huang recognized the problem when he said that "There's a fairly sizable pent-up demand going into this quarter."
Still, Huang added a touch of optimism and saw the increased demand as a positive thing. "The demand is great, and it's very likely the demand will remain great as we look through this quarter," Huang stated.
Huang also noted that the retailers are the ones that set the prices for the GPUs. In this regard, the company appeals to retailers to serve the gamers first. An example would be to create deals and bundles that will favor gamers instead of the cryptocurrency miners.
Nvidia had a great fiscal year, with $2.91 billion reported revenue at the quarter ending January 2018. However, if recent reports are any indication, it seems that the company will have to produce more to meet the increasing demand for graphics cards.
