I think the EVGA situation is too bizarre for there to be a single straightforward explanation - NVIDIA’s treatment obviously played a role but that doesn’t explain essentially closing shop (unless the company was simply unprofitable at that point - I have no idea). Weird and very unfortunately situation.
The continued existence of other AIB vendors is proof enough for me that EVGA’s problems were EVGA specific. If AIB margins and profits are terrible why are Gigabyte, MSI and ASUS and less popular brands like PNY still in the game?