Chip makers aren't banking on cryptocurrencies next year

Nvidia and AMD leave "cypto-mining" out of their forecasts

Mining cryptocurrencies isn't something new, but you would require high-end GPUs to actually power these computers to mine stuff like Bitcoin or Ethereum. And that has helped benefit sales in companies like Nvidia and AMD - the producers of these GPUs.

Reports say that Nvidia is crediting about $220 million in revenue over the last two quarters to crypto demand; while AMD suggests that it would account for around $50 million of its revenue this year.

However, both companies are refusing to include cryptocurrencies into their business outlook for the time being. While they do play a small part in revenue, it seems that these chip makers aren't getting too carried away with the crypto-mania.

Over the weekend, I was at a local computer store and guess what was the first thing I saw at the front of the store. Nope, it wasn't monitors, CPUs, or laptops. It was a bunch of "crypto-mining" setups. The store I was at was also surrounded by other stores and most of them have a similar promotional setup.

High-end GPUs ranging from $400 - $1200 were being promoted heavily. And among everyone who walked in to configure a PC, I was one of the few in the whole two hours. I would estimate almost 8/10 people who walked in were enquiring about mining.

Author: Justin Low
http://www.forexlive.com/news/!/chip-makers-arent-banking-on-cryptocurrencies-next-year-20171227