Crypto-Currency Mining Drives a Surge in GPU Sales

The recent popularity of crypto-currency mining appears to be driving a surge in sales for Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) hardware. Leading GPU vendors have seen large revenue increases so far this year, and the best explanation is the popularity of the GPU as a tool for crypto mining. A recent report from Coindesk, a webzine for the blockchain industry, quotes a study from Jon Peddie research that found “...shipments of add-in boards – which house the external graphics cards used by cryptocurrency miners, were up 31 percent from the first quarter to the second [2017].”

According to Coindesk, in previous years, GPU shipments declined by around 10% between the first and second quarters, but in 2017, Q2 GPU sales are up by around 31%. This increase appears to mirror the increased popularity of crypto mining.

Blockchain projects such as Ethereum, litecoin, NEM, dash, monero, and NEO are driving the sales bump for GPU hardware. Interestingly enough, the Bitcoin blockchain project has become so popular that manufactured Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) hardware has emerged as a separate product line for Bitcoin miners, eliminating the need for a general-purpose GPU device.