GPU shipments to drop as Bitcoin mining demand fades away

DigiTimes writes global sales of graphics cards are anticipated to drop 10-20 percent sequentially in Q2 2014 and may drop 10 percent on year in 2014. One of the major reasons for the reduced demand is the changing Bitcoin ecosystem, last year GPU sales profited tremendously from demand for Bitcoin mining rigs but now this demand has shifted towards dedicated Bitcoin ASICs.

However, as chips designed for Bitcoin mining started appearing in early 2014, demand for graphics cards has been dropping. Since mining chips have advantages in size, power consumption, reliability and costs, most Bitcoin operators have turned to dedicated chips instead, the sources said.

Bitcoin's dropping demand is also affecting overall demand for mining machines, the sources added.

With China also not seeing any significant increases in graphics card demand, global graphics shipments are expected to drop 10-20% sequentially in the second quarter, the sources estimated.