Graphics card sales down 40 percent this month

Confidential sources told DigiTimes that Taiwanese video card makers saw a big plunge in shipments. Compared with March, graphics card shipments are down a massive 40 percent due to the uncertainty about the cryptocurrency markets.

Channel distributors and larger mining farm operators have reportedly cut orders due to the waning of the crypto boom, and some even stopped purchasing video cards while they're awaiting the new Ethereum ASICs from Bitmain.

Besides lower shipments, the video card makers are seeing a sharp drop in gross margins as supply and demand is no longer as out of whack as it was earlier this year:

In line with the shipment drops, gross margins for graphics card makers are expected to fall sharply to 20-25% from a high of 50% enjoyed earlier as makers and channel distributors are forced to slash prices for sales promotion. They hope the market demand can rebound in May or June.

For gamers this is good news. Prices of video cards have already come down a bit and may gravitate closer to the MSRPs.