The ongoing shortage of PC graphics cards isn’t stopping Nvidia from raking in a fortune.
During the fourth quarter, the company’s revenues reached a record $5 billion, up 61% from a year earlier. Helping to drive the growth has been Nvidia’s new RTX 3000 series graphics cards, which have been selling out in minutes.
In a Wednesday earnings release, the company also broke down the numbers by business group. In gaming specifically, Nvidia raked in a record $2.5 billion during the fourth quarter, for a 67% year-over-year increase. (Nvidia’s data center business, meanwhile, generated a record $1.9 billion.)
During a call, Nvidia didn’t speak much about the ongoing RTX 3000 graphics card shortage and when PC consumers might see some relief. The company merely indicated that demand for the products continues to outstrip supplies.
“The entire 30 Series lineup has been farmed to keep in stock and we exited Q4 with channel inventories even lower than when we started,” said Nvidia CFO Colette Kress. “Although we are increasing supply, channel inventories will likely remain low throughout Q1."
Nevertheless, the company expects to have enough supply to help it make a projected $5.3 billion in revenue during Q1 2021. On Thursday, the company launches its most affordable option in the RTX 3000 series, the RTX 3060, which starts at $329. However, the product will almost certainly sell out immediately.
During the call, Kress also noted that analysts estimate the recent surge in cryptocurrency mining only contributed $100 million to $300 million for a “relatively small portion” of the company’s fourth quarter revenue. Still, starting next month, the company is going to start selling a dedicated line of GPUs specifically for cryptocurrency mining in the hopes it’ll alleviate some demand for the RTX 3000 cards.