Ever since its launch back in September, NVIDIA RTX 30-series graphics cards have faced severe stock shortages and according to a recent report, this shortage will worsen even further in the first quarter of 2021.
According to a report from European hardware retailer Alternate, throughout the first quarter, the cards will be even more difficult to come by than before. Alternate spoke with NVIDIA about the stock situation to which they got the above response.
NVIDIA says that there are multiple factors that are affecting the stock of the RTX 3000 series cards including the rise of popularity in mining. Alternate spoke to NVIDIA about the stocks of each 3000 series card currently released to which they replied the following.
- RTX 3090: Very few deliveries, but only a few open orders
- RTX 3080: Very few cards coming with many open orders
- RTX 3070: Few cards incoming, but few open orders
- RTX 3060 Ti: Very few cards coming, and a moderately high amount of open orders
The biggest factor contributing to the shortage of RTX 3000 series GPUs is that demand is more than the current supply. Nvidia simply cannot make enough GPUs amidst the current pandemic. But that’s not all, and Q1 is set to be especially bad for two additional reasons: Chinese New Year, and reduced availability of raw materials for making the new cards.
Nvidia is unable to source enough raw materials for GPU production, likely due to shortages further up the supply chain. GDDR6 and GDDR6X are both in high demand and are the most likely components to cause further limitations on supply, but other elements like VRMs, capacitors, PCBs, and wire bonding equipment can impact the supply of finished cards.
We will have to wait and see when the stock of Nvidia RTX 30-series card improves and when people will be able to easily get their hands on the cards at retail prices.
