AMD Says Crypto Is Not Having A Meaningful Impact On GPU Shortage, Feel Better Now?
In a recent call at the Credit Suisse 25th Technology Conference, AMD CEO Dr. Lisa Su talked a little bit about the business side of the equation, touching on things like market strategies and compound annual growth rate (CAGR) forecasts. However, these chats often contain interesting nuggets from a consumer perspective as well, and this one was no exception.
There were a few notable tidbits during the call, though one that especially stands out is Dr. Su talking about GPU supply. This sort of thing strikes a cord with us because graphics cards are hardly ever in stock these days. Even when they are, vendors sometimes assemble expensive bundles around them with supplementary hardware that you may or may not be interested in. Plain and simple, the situation stinks.
So what is AMD doing about it? There's not a whole lot AMD can realistically do, though it did actually manage to coax more supply from TSMC in recent months.
"I know lots of gamers continue to want new graphics cards, especially as they have a bit more time on their hands. We've ramped up capacity over the last couple of quarters. I think we're quite competitive. And I think we're even more excited about sort of our RDNA-3 or our next-generation road map," Dr. Lisa Su said.
She also mentioned that overall growth in the gaming sector has been "just remarkable," with AMD benefiting from serving various different segments—desktop PCs, laptops, and game consoles. Notably, AMD's graphics hardware is found in both the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S, which like everything else are in short supply too.
Serving so many different sectors can be a double-edged sword, with regards to supply issues. Then there's cryptocurrency. As to the impact that crypto-mining is having on the shortage, Dr. Su insinuates it is minimal.
"I think it's a very different market than it was a few years ago with crypto. Certainly, for our graphics business, we don't believe it's a meaningful driver. What we are trying very hard to do is make sure that our graphics cards do, in fact, go to gamers and go to the retail channel and places where are very strategic. Everything else is being handled separately," Dr. Su said.
Like its rival NVIDIA, AMD is making a lot of money from GPUs. Of course, AMD also sells a lot of CPUs and unfortunately it doesn't break down financials separately.
That said, AMD reported $2.4 billion in revenue from its combined Computing and Graphics segment in its most recent earnings report, which is a 44 percent year-over-year gain and a 7 percent sequential jump. AMD also noted that the average selling price of its GPU went up, "driving by high-end Radeon graphics product sales and AMD Instinct data center GPU sales."
So from a business perspective, AMD is making decent money from graphics products, whether you're able to find one in stock or not. And if taking the company at its word, the bulk of GPUs are going to actual gamers, not miners. Well, scalpers too, but that's a whole different story.
