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Are cryptocurrencies to blame for high GPU prices?

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Re: Are cryptocurrencies to blame for high GPU prices?

#51

Post by after_care »

cryptica wrote: post #26

And what's to blame for Bitcoin's high price? A broken fiat monetary system. I can't believe some people still think that Bitcoin is more speculative than major tech stocks. Facebook, Twitter, Google, Uber, Snapchat... All propped up by money printing. I think if we ran a simulation using hard (non-fiat) money, the net losses of these big tech companies would be even more significant than Bitcoin's losses on electric…

What?

One of the hallmarks of a tech company is that the costs associated with producing the product is relatively flat and the revenue from the product goes up linearly with usage. Most tech companies then spend their money on recruiting more engineers, to try to build more products that are cheap to maintain and generate smooth rising revenues. The increased fed spending changes the stock price, but it’s not changing the fundamentals of why selling network access software is so good.

Re: Are cryptocurrencies to blame for high GPU prices?

#52

Post by michaelt »

iqanq wrote: post #33

It's been years since the crypto boom - why hasn't production ramped up accordingly? Or are manufacturers waiting forever until it blows over? Because that may never happen.

Maybe you've heard of global supply chain shortages, covering all manner of chips and other components? And a pandemic producing sudden changes in demand, as

Meanwhile, mining hardware demand depends on cryptocurrency prices, which go up and down like a yoyo. Only a food would invest billions in a new chip plant when demand might have collapsed by the time it's finished.

Re: Are cryptocurrencies to blame for high GPU prices?

#53

Post by ThrustVectoring »

iqanq wrote: post #33

It's been years since the crypto boom - why hasn't production ramped up accordingly? Or are manufacturers waiting forever until it blows over? Because that may never happen.

Cryptocurrency was and is volatile enough that the correct play is to not build out long-term capacity for what very well could be a flash-in-the-pan phenomenon.

Re: Are cryptocurrencies to blame for high GPU prices?

#54

Post by delabay »

Alternate opinion: proof of work mining provides a valuable service to society much moreso than videogames and the premium on GPUs reflects this.

This isn't mainstream opinion of course, however I predict it will be. Crypto mining is the true first electricity buyer of last resort. It's a productive activity which can use megawatts of power and be turned off at a moments notice in order for the grid to meet the demands of society (as what is happening in Texas right this very moment). What other MW scale industrial process can turn off at the flip of a switch? It's a defacto subsidy on green power projects.

The HN crowd hates to see it, but crypto mining is becoming integrated at the deepest levels with our electricity grid. It won't happen everywhere as some jurisdictions may ban this "unholy union" but the moment public opinion changes, this integration of grid and crypto is a slam dunk no brainer.

Re: Are cryptocurrencies to blame for high GPU prices?

#56

Post by wayoutthere »

groundhogday3 wrote: post #46
iqanq wrote: post #33

It's been years since the crypto boom - why hasn't production ramped up accordingly? Or are manufacturers waiting forever until it blows over? Because that may never happen.

I've read that takes 2 years to get a new semi-conductor fab up and running. While demand for GPUs has skyrocketed not only in crypto but in other areas. Couple that with us going into 2 years of global lockdowns and subsequent supply disruptions have probably exacerbated the situation greatly.

It takes two years under normal circumstances; from what I understand backlogs for the lithography equipment are a huge bottleneck in the industry since there are only a few companies that make such specialized machines. They were already backordered for years pre-pandemic, with most of those getting pushed out because of supply constraint issues.

We’re never going to return to the level of industrial output pre-Covid. There are a dozen high-likelihood scenarios down the pipe in the 2020s (Russia, China/Taiwan, climate drought / famine, etc) that will continue holding global productivity down. We’re looking at global stagflation for most of the rest of our lives as a result, meaning crypto is a good hedge. NVidia just needs to start pricing its top-tier GPUs for crypto farms, then refurbishing the last generation for consumers when the crypto farms upgrade.

Re: Are cryptocurrencies to blame for high GPU prices?

#59

Post by fdsklfdsklfj »

rvz wrote: post #16
scottiebarnes wrote: post #4

Cloud / data center GPU consumption has also gone up in the past couple years.

If you mention anything about the cloud, deep learning training on GPUs and the impact on the environment that has and the increasing costs of training and fine tuning your neural net, they won't care at all, they will still do it after all these years. As you know it is still a valid point.

Mining Dogecoins and solving protein folding add the same value to society after all.

Re: Are cryptocurrencies to blame for high GPU prices?

#60

Post by lottin »

gtsop wrote: post #37
factorialboy wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Supply steady. Demand exponential increase due to cryptocurrencies. Blame whomever you wish.

I just don't get why people hide behind their finger. This is capitalism 101. You either like it and go by it or dislike it and try to change it. For some reason X the demand for product Y has increased which leads to price bump. If you are pro capitalist economy then you just accept it for what it is. If you don't like it then discuss alternate economies. The rules of the economy are the ones to blame, not the peopl…

It probably has something to do with the fact that crypto is perceived as having no social value, and therefore people are less inclined to accept negative consequences that may result from such an activity.
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