'Crypto hangover' likely reason for NVIDIA RTX 2060 delay

The successor to the midrange NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060, the RTX 2060, is still not available and all indications so far seem to imply that the card will not be launching this year. In an earnings call last Thursday, NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang seemed concerned about the overall decline in revenue in Q4, which he attributed to a "crypto hangover". The current oversupply of Pascal-based cards such as the GTX 1060 coupled with the likely offloading of used cards by cryptocurrency miners for much lower prices mean that the release of the RTX 2060 will be further delayed.

NVIDIA hasn't announced a date for RTX 2060 or other low-end Turing GPU shipments but the company would want to clear the excess Pascal inventory before releasing new GPUs. Speaking to MarketWatch, Huang said, 

The crypto hangover lasted longer than we expected and we were surprised by that, but it will pass."

Huang and NVIDIA CFO Colette Kress were optimistic that the inventory backlog would clear by the end of Q3 but were also wary that it could continue well into Q4 and beyond. While crypto miners offloading used cards for cheap would definitely add to the inventory pileup, NVIDIA's high-end Turing GPUs such as the RTX 2070, RTX 2080, and the RTX 2080 Ti might seem more enticing for high-end gamers, which can further block clearing of old stock. NViDIA, however, remained optimistic and Huang said that they've overcome adversity "far, far, far greater than this."

NVIDIA can still get solace from the fact that its data-center, autonomous driving, and AI businesses seem to be performing well. However, Huang's crypto concerns sent NVIDIA's stock spiraling down 18% after the call.

AMD's Lisa Su also echoed similar sentiments in a recent earnings report. Speaking of AMD, the just launched Radeon RX 590 competes directly with the GTX 1060 complicating matters even further. NVIDIA's goal of clearing excess inventory might turn out to be potentially lucrative for buyers as they can expect some nice deals on Pascal cards this holiday season, especially for the GTX 1060. 

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