EVGA is cutting ties with Nvidia and dropping out of the graphics card business, according to reports from multiple prominent PC gaming influencers, citing interviews with EVGA CEO Andrew Han.
In a statement on the official EVGA forums, the company says "EVGA will not carry the next generation graphics cards," referring to the upcoming RTX 4000 series from Nvidia. The statement says that EVGA will continue to support and sell "current generation products," however.
If you're not familiar with how the PC video card market works, companies like Nvidia design architectures for cards such as, say, the RTX 3080. Nvidia will then manufacture some of those graphics cards internally, but will also license additional manufacturers, such as EVGA, to manufacture those cards, as well.
YouTube channels Gamers Nexus and JayzTwoCents both report having meetings with Andrew Han where the CEO confirmed that the company plans to cut ties with Nvidia.
According to these reports, EVGA feels disrespected by Nvidia's treatment of its partners, with claims that Nvidia does not even provide pricing information to those partners until graphics cards are announced on-stage at public events. The reports further cite poor profit margins and a lack of flexibility around making more creative board designs as contributions to EVGA's decision.
According to Gamers Nexus, EVGA plans to cease all video card manufacturing, and once it sells through its stock of cards - the RTX 3000 series is expected to run out by the end of 2022 - that's it. No more EVGA GPUs. Gamers Nexus says it spoke with Han "at length" about the possibility of making graphics cards with partners like AMD or Intel, but says EVGA has no plans to do so.
While EVGA is best known for its versions of Nvidia graphics cards, it also manufactures things like PC power supplies, keyboards, and other components and peripherals. According to Gamers Nexus, around 78% of EVGA's gross revenue comes from video cards, though the company claims that low profit margins on Nvidia-licensed products mean that the company will be able to make up the profits elsewhere.
Gamers Nexus quotes EVGA as saying that it will continue to do business, and that there are no plans for layoffs.
The best graphics cards are about to start looking a lot different.
