"Even Motel PCs Are Being Ransacked"... Graphics Card Prices Also Soaring High Together

Model appearance of the cryptocurrency Bitcoin. [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Hwang Sumi] As the value of cryptocurrencies soars, the prices of graphics cards used for mining them are also continuing their high-rise trend, and now incidents of graphics cards being stolen from places like motels are occurring.

According to Herald Economy on the 18th, A (33), who operates a lodging facility in Songpa-gu, recently had a computer graphics card placed in a guest room stolen.

A said, "I found the guest room computer completely disassembled and even water was poured on it, so I wondered what had happened, and upon checking, the graphics card had been taken out," expressing frustration.

Besides A, damages caused by graphics card theft continue to occur. Recently, in the lodging industry, there have been reports of many business owners experiencing theft of graphics cards from guest rooms. On the 6th, a man in his 20s was caught stealing graphics cards from PCs placed in motel rooms around Gwangju to make living expenses.

Recently, as graphics cards have been used for cryptocurrency mining, a shortage phenomenon has occurred, causing the secondhand market prices to soar about twice compared to the past, leading to more frequent thefts targeting them.

Graphics card supplier NVIDIA officially mentioned the shortage of graphics card supply and predicted that the price surge would intensify further. Previously, graphics card manufacturers such as ASUS and Gigabyte hinted at possible price increases, and amid this, NVIDIA officially confirmed the shortage of graphics card supply.

NVIDIA's CFO (Chief Financial Officer) stated that the shortage of graphics card supply would continue until the end of the year. Because of this, concerns have arisen in the industry that graphics card prices could rise even more than now.

According to Danawa, a price comparison platform, some graphics cards sold on open markets recently are priced in the hundreds of thousands of Korean won. The MSI GeForce RTX3080 VENTUS, which was originally priced at only 999,000 KRW, is being sold for around 3 million KRW on open markets, and some open markets have recorded asking prices exceeding 6.9 million KRW.

Until the end of last year, the RTX3070 product, which could be purchased for as low as 600,000 KRW, is now being traded on open markets for about 1.5 million KRW depending on the manufacturer.