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Nvidia is one of the largest, if not the largest, graphics card manufacturers on the market. The company makes its own Founder’s Edition cards and partners with plenty of other companies so they can sell their own customized versions. The list of official partners used to be larger, but some of these companies got out of the GPU business because they felt shafted by their relationship. EVGA was once at the top of the GPU market. It manufactured a subline of Nvidia GPUs, and many customers used to give EVGA’s graphics cards top marks for quality and reliability.
However, in September of 2022, EVGA blindsided customers by announcing it would exit the GPU market. When Gamers Nexus (via YouTube) interviewed company representatives, they cited a general lack of respect from Nvidia. According to EVGA, Nvidia wouldn’t provide EVGA with crucial information about its products ahead of time, not even the prices of the chips. In EVGA’s eyes, this relationship made it difficult to run its business. To be fair, though, apparently other Nvidia partners like Asus and MSI have made similar complaints, although they still manufacture modified Nvidia cards.
While EVGA told Gamers Nexus the decision was a matter of “principle” instead of finance, money did play a factor. EVGA’s profit margins for GPUs were around 5% at its lowest, whereas other partners achieved 10% profit margins on the low end. This wasn’t a case of Nvidia shortchanging EVGA, though; while most partners manufactured their own GPU cooling fans and circuit boards (and other components), EVGA bought theirs from third parties. While the company was clearly making money, it wasn’t making enough to justify a continued partnership.
EVGA is a shadow of its former self
After EVGA stopped selling GPUs, many were concerned about the company’s future. Gamers Nexus flat-out asked EVGA’s CEO, Andrew Han, if he planned to retire or sell the company. Han said no, and EVGA is still around. If you examine EVGA’s current product catalog, you’ll notice that it is downright anemic compared to previous years’ lineups. EVGA used to offer long-lasting liquid cooling systems, gaming mice, and motherboards, and you can still buy some of these products through retailers such as Newegg, but many are refurbished. These days, EVGA’s website exclusively sells power supplies and overclocking software.
While EVGA hasn’t made any major announcements regarding its financials or layoffs, between its current lack of products and the company closing its official forums in favor of Reddit, many people believe the company’s days are numbered. After all, even though EVGA made very little money on each GPU, graphics cards still accounted for 80% of the company’s total revenue. While it’s just speculation, the running theory is that EVGA cut off its nose to spite its face when it decided to stop making GPUs.
