AMD May Repurpose Its Apple-Exclusive GPUs For Cryptocurrency Mining: Reports

What Happened: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMD) may be looking to release its own cryptocurrency mining-specific GPUs, according to reports.

AMD’s GPUs were originally manufactured exclusively for Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL), but a recent announcement from the company communicating a “set of fixes” to the AMDGPU kernel driver suggests that the graphics card will be repurposed for cryptocurrency mining.

Specifically, the GPU no longer supports Video Core Next (VCN) which renders it effectively useless for gamers but an ideal option for cryptocurrency miners.

AMD’s move comes after NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ: NVDA) announced their CMP cards, exclusively meant for cryptocurrency mining.

The NVIDIA CMP cards are Cryptocurrency Mining Processor cards that will be a line of hardware focused on professional mining, with an emphasis on Ethereum.

See also: Best Cryptocurrency Apps

Why It Matters: Bitcoin and Ethereum mining is a massive industry, with miners on both the blockchains each recording daily revenues of over $50 million a day.

Mining companies like Marathon Digital Holdings Inc (NASDAQ: MARA) and Riot Blockchain Inc (NASDAQ: RIOT) have seen their share price rally by over 1000% in the past six months that followed the surge in cryptocurrency prices.

The attractive fees to be earned in cryptocurrency mining operations have made the business a lucrative investment for many companies that have been focused on moving into the space.

On March 8, Norway-based oil and gas giant Aker (OTCMKTS: AKAAF) announced it would set up its own Bitcoin mining unit.

The company would set up a unit called Seetee for its mining operations and will reportedly place all of Seetee’s liquid assets in Bitcoin.

In a letter to the company’s shareholders, Aker CEO Oeyvind Eriksen stated, “To get long-term ex­po­sure to bit­coin, the abil­i­ty to in­crease that with min­ing, and the chance to cre­ate new com­pa­nies with some of the bright­est minds in the world, is a once in a life­time op­por­tu­ni­ty. It would be in­sane not to do it.”