GeForce/Radeon GPUs shipments expected to drop by a huge 40%

We knew it was coming, but the date was always a mystery... but now DigiTimes is reporting that Taiwan-based AIB partners of NVIDIA and AMD are expecting that the cryptocurrency mining demand will deflate, driving down demand for GeForce and Radeon graphics cards.

Why? Well, Bitmain is releasing their Ethereum ASIC miner which kicks GPU mining's ass... with the Antminer E3 coming soon. DigiTimes reports that "Quite a few mining farm operators have even stopped purchasing graphic cards, as they are awaiting the rollout of Ethereum mining machines by China's Bitmain in the third quarter of 2018. They anticipate mining rewards to pick up gradually in the third quarter, as Bitcoin and Ethereum values may rebound following sharp declines seen in early 2018, the sources indicated".

This doesn't mean that NVIDIA and AMD are dropping the prices of their GPUs, it means that retailers won't be able to siphon as much profits from their cards in this mining boom that is deflating. Bitmain is handling that almost single handedly with their Ethereum ASIC miners impending release.

DigiTimes continues: "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".