DigiTimes, citing sources familiar on the matter, have reported that Gigabyte is looking to improve its financial outlook amidst not-so-rosy projections for the graphics card and motherboard markets 2019 (with the former being expected to shrink, while the latter is to stay weak). The way they're going to do this, according to the report, is twofold: cutting on marketing expenses and the enrolled workforce. According to the report, he motherboard-bound employees are expected to be the ones coming out of the gates, for now.

To give some context to the weak motherboard demand, Gigabyte is reported to have shipped 16 million motherboards back in 2016 - and the objective for 2019 is to sell above 10 million units, a huge decrease in three years. As to grpahics cards, demand is now finding its non-cryptocurrency-driven quota, as shipments for graphics cards in 2019 are expected to reach the levels of 2016, at 3.5 million units sold - a strong decrease from 2017's 4.8 million units. It seems that Gigabyte has also been working on delivering products that offer higher profits than their usual outings, though, with multiple halo products (such as the Gigabyte Z390 Aorus Xtreme Waterforce, for example, which is available and retailing for $899 [or €1049 in Europe!]). These top-tier products have higher ASP and profits for the manufacturer than budget solutions, and look like a way for Gigabyte to look for higher earnings on a slimmer market.

NVIDIA's stock value has been falling precipitously in the last several months. We reported in December that the company lost some 48.8% in value between October and December, moving from an all-time peak of $289.36 on October 1st, to just under $149 on December 14th. At the time, excess inventories were the cause, alongside a less than glamorous reception to their new RTX series of graphics cards. Now? NVIDIA cites "deteriorating macroeconomic conditions, particularly in China" as harming demand for their gaming GPUs. But this now comes alongside a its datacenter business also falling short of expectations - that's two of NVIDIA's most lucrative markets being put towards the red, or at least, with lower than expected income revenues.

This led the company to revise its financial outlook for the year, lowering revenue estimates by $500 million, down to $2.2 billion from its initial $2.7 billion forecast. Gross margins have been lowered by some 7%, which means lowered earnings for investors. Since the December plunge, NVIDIA's stock had recovered up to around $160 per share, but has now dived 14.52%, down to $136.90 - even lower than before. The company has seen its market valuation shrink by more than 50% inside of four months - while the company is still well in the green side of the limbo, so to speak, these certainly don't serve to improve the company's spirit.