Nvidia Estimates Ethereum Miners Contributed 2%-6% of Q4 Revenue

Nvidia expects $50 million in revenue will come from a new, miner-specific product during its first quarter of sales.

AccessTimeIconFeb 25, 2021 at 12:21 a.m. UTC
Updated Sep 14, 2021 at 12:17 p.m. UTC
10 Years of Decentralizing the Future
May 29-31, 2024 - Austin, TexasThe biggest and most established global hub for everything crypto, blockchain and Web3.Register Now

Nvidia (NVDA) says Ethereum mining activity contributed very little to its Q4 2020 revenue.

Although it lacks "the ability to accurately track or quantify” the end uses of its graphic processing units (GPUs), Nvidia CFO Colette Kress said the company estimates that between $100 million and $300 million – a "relatively small portion" – of Q4 revenue came from Ethereum miners buying GPUs to use in their mining equipment.

Nvidia reported a total of $5 billion in revenue for the Q4, implying mining sales represented 2%-6% of the total.

Ethereum’s hash rate has grown 124% in the past year, according to data from Coin Metrics, in tandem with the general cryptocurrency market’s rally. This has driven demand for Nvidia's GeForce RTX 3060 graphics card, much to the dismay of the company's gaming customers.

Nvidia said earlier this week it's altering its GeForce RTX 3060 graphics card to limit its own efficiency if the card detects it's being used for Ethereum mining, a move designed to ensure GPU supply is available to gamers. “We would like GPUs to end up with gamers,” Kress said on the company’s earnings call Wednesday.

In the future, though, miner-contributed revenue for Nvidia is likely to come from another of the company's products. To serve the mining community, the company is launching Cryptocurrency Mining Processors (CMPs), which are “optimized to improve Ethereum mining” and will give the company “more visibility” into the share of revenue contributed by cryptocurrency miners, Kress said.

Nvidia plans to sell its new CMPs to industrial Ethereum miners and expects the mining-specific product to generate roughly $50 million in revenue during its first quarter of sales. Nvidia also plans to quantify miner revenue contributions in all future quarterly earnings reports.

Disclosure

Please note that our privacy policy, terms of use, cookies, and do not sell my personal information has been updated.

CoinDesk is an award-winning media outlet that covers the cryptocurrency industry. Its journalists abide by a strict set of editorial policies. In November 2023, CoinDesk was acquired by the Bullish group, owner of Bullish, a regulated, digital assets exchange. The Bullish group is majority-owned by Block.one; both companies have interests in a variety of blockchain and digital asset businesses and significant holdings of digital assets, including bitcoin. CoinDesk operates as an independent subsidiary with an editorial committee to protect journalistic independence. CoinDesk employees, including journalists, may receive options in the Bullish group as part of their compensation.


Learn more about Consensus 2024, CoinDesk's longest-running and most influential event that brings together all sides of crypto, blockchain and Web3. Head to consensus.coindesk.com to register and buy your pass now.