Bill Roberson/Digital TrendsNvidia and AMD both posted strong earnings reports for the fourth quarter of 2017, as well as the entire year. For both top-tier tech firms, graphics card sales were a major driving force and alongside a few other factors, cryptocurrency miners were name-checked as one of the reasons they had such a strong year.

　　By the numbers, Nvidia had a record-breaking year, with fourth-quarter GAAP-adjusted revenue of $2.91 billion — up 34 percent from last year — and a yearly total of $9.71 billion, a 41-percent increase year on year. AMD earned less, but arguably had the more momentous year. After facing a net income loss of half a billion dollars in 2016, it managed to generate an annual net income of $43 million off of $5.33 billion in total revenue — more than a quarter of which came in during the fourth quarter.

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　　While AMD certainly benefitted from a strong consumer response to its Ryzen CPUs in 2017, both it and Nvidia saw enormous interest in its add-in graphics cards. Although gamers and typical holiday demand were responsible in part for the strong graphics card sales for both companies, another driver of sales was cryptocurrency miners. The sheer demand from that market is why gamers have struggled to find reasonably priced graphics cards for much of the past year.

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　　Neither company has stated