Bitcoin spurs graphic card shortage – Bangkok Post

At Commart Joy recently, many of the visitors flocked to the graphic card booth.

The rising popularity of bitcoin has caused a shortage in supply of graphic cards, the main component of the cryptocurrency system, over the past couple of years, according to an executive in the gaming industry.

The value of graphic cards has also been increasing sharply since mid-May, said Somyot Chaowalit, chief executive of JIB Computer Group, a leading computer gaming and IT retail chain.

Graphic cards are a key component of computer systems used for mining the digital currency bitcoin. Users can get returns on their investment from bitcoin faster than other types of investment -- within only five to 15 months.

According to Mr Somyot, some people consider investing in a mining rig -- a computer system used for mining bitcoin -- not very risky. They use at least six graphic cards, at a cost of around 100,000 baht, for a mining rig.

The margin on graphic cards has been growing since the second quarter this year, from 2-3% to 8-10%. However the company needs to reserve the cards to avoid a negative impact on gamers.

Demand for graphic cards is also high in the gaming market.

Meanwhile, graphic card makers recently introduced lower-price graphic cards for bitcoin as they don't come with a display port.

The price is 20% lower than the regular cards, with shorter warranty periods, at three to six months instead of three years.

Mr Somyot said half of JIB's revenue comes from mid- to high-end computers, particularly tailor-made gaming computers, with prices starting from 25,000 baht for a gaming desktop and 40,000 baht for a gaming notebook.

He said this year its revenue is expected to grow 20% compared to an earlier forecast of 15%, reaching 8.2 billion baht.

The company aims to garner 10 billion in revenue by 2018 from the growth of the gaming industry and bitcoin use.

Chukkrit Watcharasaksilp, chief executive of Advice Holding Group, a leading IT chain, said bitcoin's popularity rebounded in Thailand this May after it was first introduced here three years ago.

The most popular graphic cards used for bitcoin are AMD 570 and 580 and NVIDIA 1060 and 1070, which were in short supply, causing a 20% price hike.

The higher prices are predicted to remain until October.

Jarit Sidhu, research manager at IDC's Asia/Pacific, said bitcoin is now accepted in many countries such as Japan, China, Australia, Russia and the US. The price of bitcoin valuation can swing by 30%, he said.

"We have never seen such a long queue of visitors at the computer exhibition as last month at Commart," said Mr Jarit. The computer market has been declining for nearly a decade, he said.

Don Sambandaraksa, a long-time bitcoin enthusiast who has been associated with digital currency since 2013 when bitcoin was priced at US$40, said these days bitcoin can no longer be effectively mined with central processing units or even graphics processing units.

People have created chips that can only do bitcoin hashes and nothing else, he said.

A 1080Ti card costs about $700 and can gain a return on investment (ROI) in some 108 days, said Mr Don. Over a year, it can make $2,300, an annual ROI of about 300%.

As more people flock to buy graphic cards, the less profitable they will be, he said. But it is an indication of the crazy levels of profitability that mining offers, said Mr Don.

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Bitcoin spurs graphic card shortage - Bangkok Post