No I think it just makes logical sense. The process of mining and the process of rendering graphics are both the kind of tasks that stand to benefit greatly from parallel processing, so it makes sense that graphics cards are optimized for both tasks. It's just a coincidence IMO.
Also I think the hardware industry would be perfectly fine without bitcoin/crypto mining. They have a lot of other massive and rapidly growing businesses like gaming, AI, etc.
some time ago bill gates was quoted as saying " I dont see any reason why people would need anything more then windows 3.1" with that being said and video cards being able to produce more then necessary in terms of graphics, I find only one thing driving this beast, that being mining. The AMD vega apparently being sold with double the amount of memory that can currently be utilized only leads me to think of wasteful or rather future production in mind. the nvidia 1060-1080 all have the same processing units with only the more expensive models ie 1080 running at full potential. This isnt about graphics or proper marketing ethics. There is a reason your bumber is not made of hemp fiber and its not because hemp isnt useful.
Can some one please comment on why then tangle is not taking the cryptos by storm.