EKWB, one of the world’s best-known premium liquid cooling solutions providers, has decided to lay off a quarter of its employees from its headquarters in Slovenia. A statement shared by the company can reveal that the decision had to do with weaker demand; apparently, it is a lot harder to get enthusiasts to spend their hard-earned cash on water blocks these days.
The official statement from EKWB, as received by TechPowerUp:
“During the first quarter of 2022 EK, the leading computer liquid cooling solutions provider, observed signs that consumer spending was starting to decline in response to global events. Despite forecasting a reduction in demand for EU and USA during our 2021 Global Summit, the onset of conflicts in Ukraine saw sales drop below these expectations.”
“In response to these trends which indicated moderate willingness to spend, EK is taking early precautions to streamline our operations in Slovenia. Regretfully this involved a reduction in the number of employees by approximately 25%. Further plans were also initiated that will see EK enter new geographical markets and sales channels with more outstanding and innovative products.”
“Now more than ever EK is committed to delivering the quality and experience our loyal customers demand. We sincerely hope our actions will permit us to do this long into the future.”
EKWB Lays Off 25% of Workforce, Blames Lower Watercooling Sales (TechPowerUp)
EK Water Blocks, possibly the most notable manufacturer of DIY PC cooling solutions, has downsized a quarter of its staff in response to a sharp drop in sales. This affects over 60 of the 200+ tech jobs in Slovenia, the home country of EKWB, something it proudly flaunts. EKWB sees its sales principally split in half between the North American and European markets. The company’s market-presence in Asia is limited at this time, although it is now a reinvigorated area of interest. The company noticed quarterly sales-drops in steps as big as 20 percent since October 2021, according to Slovenian press reports.
The company is faulting these sales drops on the COVID-19 pandemic, specifically its economic impact, spike in PC hardware prices, and people spending less on premium/novelty hardware that EKWB principally specializes in—DIY liquid cooling solutions. The company also noted the impact of the war in Ukraine causing various commodity shortages for manufacturers in Europe. Matjaž Krč (CEO, EKWB) in a statement even blamed the sociological impact of COVID-19, specifically gaps between pandemic waves that enable people to travel and enjoy the outdoors—not wanting to spend on things that keep them indoors, such as gaming.
EKWB was founded by Edvard König and has been offering effective liquid cooling solutions for enthusiasts since its inception in 1999. One of the company’s most recent products is the Vector2 water block for ASUS ROG Strix GeForce RTX 3070 Ti graphics cards, featuring a CNC-machined black-anodized backplate, 3D-machined Plexi insert, and minimalistic design.
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Discussion (19 replies)
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That sounds like a big number, but if you only employ 4 people, it doesn't take much.
Also, couldn't have anything to do with the fact that people couldn't reasonably buy new hardware for most of the past 2 years.
Still, feel sorry for the folks, don't wish it on anyone. But it's a niche inside of a niche, and DIY PC gaming in general has been hit hard recently.
I think the block sales are definitely impacted negatively by the hardware supply constraints. This was especially problematic for GPU sales which saw GPU's largely unavailable to the general public for more than a year. I'm not going to buy a waterblock for a card I can't buy.
We'll see what happens when the 4090s roll out. If they're as power hungry as rumors suggest there could be a huge new market for blocks.
I'm bummed for them though.
"Peter_Brosdahl, post: 52213, member: 87" wrote:If they're as power hungry as rumors suggest there could be a huge new market for blocks.
Huge market for a product destined for a very small market share. Not sure I'd stake my career around that.
"Brian_B, post: 52222, member: 96" wrote:Huge market for a product destined for a very small market share. Not sure I'd stake my career around that.
For sure, but at this point, I'd bet the whole upper stack of NV and AMD cards is going to be power-hungry moving forward. It's not like they've got any incentive not to be.
"Peter_Brosdahl, post: 52223, member: 87" wrote:For sure, but at this point, I'd bet the whole upper stack of NV and AMD cards is going to be power-hungry moving forward. It's not like they've got any incentive not to be.
Yeah, but they will come with coolers from the factory able to handle that - be it triple slots, AIOs, hybrids, or stock water blocks.
The ~aftermarket~ market for blocks won't appreciably change or get bigger just because the TDP got higher - I think it will stay about where it's always been. A small handful of enthusiasts willing to break their $1-$3k card to get better frames and push some boundaries.
Now, if an AIB or someone were to contract through EKWB to provide that solution - that would be a big deal (well, as big as the market gets I suppose, maybe a few thousand for a particular SKU?). But I don't know if that's likely to occur, given that most AIBs have the resources to just do that in house and you'd really just be licensing any proprietary design (not likely) and/or the brand name (while we recognize it, outside of our community, not many other people are going to)
Sad to hear it but miners arnt building massive cooling loops for their undervolted cards.
I generally like their products. I hope it doesn't impact my ability to upgrade my blocks in the near future.
"Brian_B, post: 52225, member: 96" wrote:Now, if an AIB or someone were to contract through EKWB to provide that solution
It's been known to happen. It's been known to happen but I know you're right about the rest. I just don't want to see them, or any other provider in this market, go under.
It's such a limited market already. I wonder if they are pairing down in preparation for a buyout from someone like Corsair?
"Grimlakin, post: 52231, member: 215" wrote:It's such a limited market already. I wonder if they are pairing down in preparation for a buyout from someone like Corsair?
I wondered about that too. Another possibility is that they over-extended themselves and as Brian and Dan said, the supply chain caused revenue issues when nobody was able to buy a card. Also, between Turing and Ampere, they really branched out with a lot of designs for AIB cards. I've posted quite a few stories on them and they've also been putting a larger focus on full block configurations. I've got a feeling their financials got a bit upside down with all these factors.
EKWB has been partnering with MSI a bit for 'full coverage' blocks - thing is, they're not really that great from what I've seen, as VRM cooling isn't really necessary as Z690 boards are so overbuilt, and overclocking Alder Lake borders on madness.
For GPU blocks... well, they're pretty proud of those.
Only EKWB part I have on the shelf for my 12700k / 3080 12GB build is the CPU block.
Custom water loops were already a niche of a niche, I was surprised a company could survive focusing on just that even before the hardware shortages.
"MadMummy76, post: 52254, member: 1298" wrote:Custom water loops were already a niche of a niche, I was surprised a company could survive focusing on just that even before the hardware shortages.
Also a growing niche with CPU and GPU power usage skyrocketing. And as always, better cooling can also lower the noise floor considerably.
"LazyGamer, post: 52255, member: 1367" wrote:Also a growing niche with CPU and GPU power usage skyrocketing. And as always, better cooling can also lower the noise floor considerably.
I think PC enthusiast is a shrinking hobby to begin with. How many under 20 people do you think are reading sites like this?
Discussion (19 replies)
Join Discussion →That sounds like a big number, but if you only employ 4 people, it doesn't take much.
Also, couldn't have anything to do with the fact that people couldn't reasonably buy new hardware for most of the past 2 years.
Still, feel sorry for the folks, don't wish it on anyone. But it's a niche inside of a niche, and DIY PC gaming in general has been hit hard recently.
I think the block sales are definitely impacted negatively by the hardware supply constraints. This was especially problematic for GPU sales which saw GPU's largely unavailable to the general public for more than a year. I'm not going to buy a waterblock for a card I can't buy.
We'll see what happens when the 4090s roll out. If they're as power hungry as rumors suggest there could be a huge new market for blocks.
I'm bummed for them though.
Huge market for a product destined for a very small market share. Not sure I'd stake my career around that.
For sure, but at this point, I'd bet the whole upper stack of NV and AMD cards is going to be power-hungry moving forward. It's not like they've got any incentive not to be.
Yeah, but they will come with coolers from the factory able to handle that - be it triple slots, AIOs, hybrids, or stock water blocks.
The ~aftermarket~ market for blocks won't appreciably change or get bigger just because the TDP got higher - I think it will stay about where it's always been. A small handful of enthusiasts willing to break their $1-$3k card to get better frames and push some boundaries.
Now, if an AIB or someone were to contract through EKWB to provide that solution - that would be a big deal (well, as big as the market gets I suppose, maybe a few thousand for a particular SKU?). But I don't know if that's likely to occur, given that most AIBs have the resources to just do that in house and you'd really just be licensing any proprietary design (not likely) and/or the brand name (while we recognize it, outside of our community, not many other people are going to)
Sad to hear it but miners arnt building massive cooling loops for their undervolted cards.
I generally like their products. I hope it doesn't impact my ability to upgrade my blocks in the near future.
It's been known to happen. It's been known to happen but I know you're right about the rest. I just don't want to see them, or any other provider in this market, go under.
It's such a limited market already. I wonder if they are pairing down in preparation for a buyout from someone like Corsair?
I wondered about that too. Another possibility is that they over-extended themselves and as Brian and Dan said, the supply chain caused revenue issues when nobody was able to buy a card. Also, between Turing and Ampere, they really branched out with a lot of designs for AIB cards. I've posted quite a few stories on them and they've also been putting a larger focus on full block configurations. I've got a feeling their financials got a bit upside down with all these factors.
EKWB has been partnering with MSI a bit for 'full coverage' blocks - thing is, they're not really that great from what I've seen, as VRM cooling isn't really necessary as Z690 boards are so overbuilt, and overclocking Alder Lake borders on madness.
For GPU blocks... well, they're pretty proud of those.
Only EKWB part I have on the shelf for my 12700k / 3080 12GB build is the CPU block.
Custom water loops were already a niche of a niche, I was surprised a company could survive focusing on just that even before the hardware shortages.
Also a growing niche with CPU and GPU power usage skyrocketing. And as always, better cooling can also lower the noise floor considerably.
I think PC enthusiast is a shrinking hobby to begin with. How many under 20 people do you think are reading sites like this?