Blockchain is the technology behind Bitcoin and Ethereum that crypto-miner uses fast graphics processing units (GPUs) to solve complex math problems and receive new digital currency as a reward.
AMD and NVIDIA will report earnings next week, both of which sell GPUs that could make significant gains as prices rise. Analysts predict that as more companies worldwide announce their entry into the Bitcoin industry or blockchain technology Plan, the sales of these two companies will further increase.
Investors are excited about the future as AMD shares rose about 6% on Wednesday, while shares of NVIDIA rose 3%.
In 2017, the price of popular bitcoin soared more than 1300 percentage points, attracting more people around the world to use bitcoin, pushing up the demand for the GPU.
In the past, AMD and NVIDIA have tried to reduce their expectation of potential revenue growth in cryptocurrencies, but analysts believe the blockchain gate is already open.
Stifel analyst Kevin Cassidy said: 'We think the broader area of the blockchain is a sustainable GPU market that will eventually become ASIC-specific for application blockchain.'
'We think both AMD and NVIDIA are likely to benefit from it and at least benefit from the intellectual property for ASICs.'
While the blockchain is best known as a bitcoin-enabled system, more and more industries use it to increase security or business efficiency, such as De Beers using blockchain technology to verify the authenticity of diamonds .
Credit Suisse analyst John Pitzer said, 'While some people may think the benefits of encryption should be discounted, we think the blockchain is more sustainable than most technologies.'
Pitzer estimates that AMD sold approximately $ 320 million in chips to blockchain companies in 2017, but this represents only a fraction of AMD's annual revenue (more than $ 5 billion).
Lisa Su, AMD's chief executive officer, told a Tuesday earnings call that although the blockchain was a very liquid and dynamic market, AMD enjoyed strong growth in December and continued its momentum this year First quarter.
NVIDIA, AMD's largest rival, will report fourth-quarter earnings on February 8, when the company reported a quarterly revenue of more than $ 100 million in October.