Fourth-quarter demand from cryptocurrency miners for GPU maker Nvidia’s products was bigger than anticipated, the company’s chief financial officer said on an earnings call today.
“Strong demand in the cryptocurrency market exceeded our expectations,” CFO Colette Kress said, issuing the remarks as the company unveiled its fourth-quarter earnings for 2017. The company banked $2.91 billion in revenue during that period, an increase of more than 34% compared to the same time a year prior.
That said, Kress stressed that the demand the company has seen in months past could shift, depending on the fortunes of the cryptocurrency market.
Kress commented:
“While the contribution of cryptocurrency mining to our business is hard to quantify, it is likely to have been higher than in previous years. However, we remain committed to our gaming demands as cryptocurrency trends are likely to remain volatile.”
Nvidia’s leadership, including CEO Jen-Hsun Huang, have struck bullish notes on the boon of cryptocurrency mining for its bottom line. Elsewhere, the company has indicated that it anticipates mining to ultimately form a small part of its overall earnings picture.
The company did not plan for or expect increased profits from cryptocurrencies, an analyst later said on the call. In response to a question about how Nvidia modeled cryptocurrencies, he responded that they “modeled crypto approximately flat.”
“There’s a lot of dynamics going on in gaming,” the analyst continued. “One dynamic is there’s a fairly sizable pent-up demand going into this quarter, but I think the larger dynamics that are happening relate to just the amazing games that are out right now.”
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