Nvidia RTX 3080 stock shortage is set to worsen - and it could cause prices to rise

Retailer confirms availability will deteriorate further in Q1

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Nvidia’s RTX 3000-series stock shortage could be about to get even worse, according to a European retailer.

Supply issues have been a consistent issue with the latest generation of GPUs from Nvidia,with a global shortage of GDDR6 memory believed to be one of the contributing factors, as well as global efforts to distribute the COVID-19 vaccine.

Things are unlikely to improve any time soon, as retailerAlternate, which operates in Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium, has received confirmation from Nvidia that the availability of its latest GPUs – including theRTX 3080andRTX 3060 Ti – will continue to worsen throughout the first quarter.

“Unfortunately, we have received the news from both manufacturers and Nvidia that the availability of the RTX 3000 series cards will deteriorate further in the first quarter of 2021,” the retailer states in a notice on its website.

“This is due to the poor availability of raw materials and Nvidia chips, but also to the Chinese New Year, which causes a temporary closure of factories."

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According to the retailer, the RTX 3080 and RTX 3060 Ti will be the most difficult GPUs to buy, with “very few deliveries” and “many open orders”. This means it’s likely that even those who pre-ordered the GPUs could have a months-long wait on their hands.

“This means that the chance of an RTX 3080, especially for new orders, is virtually nil,” Alternate adds.

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Your luck might be better with theRTX 3070andRTX 3090, as although the retailer is expecting “small quantities” of these GPUs throughout the quarter, they aren’t nearly as popular and thus have shorter waiting lists.

The news gets even worse for those who have yet to order an RTX 3000-series graphics card. The retailer warns that while prices will stay the same for those who pre-ordered an Ampere GPU, prices for new orders will “continue to rise in the near future due to market forces.”

It remains to be seen when the stock situation – which is also affectingAMD’s RX 6000 graphics cards– will improve, but it’s unlikely to be any time soon.

Nvidia’s CFO Colette Kress recently confirmed that inventories “will likely remain lean throughout Q1”, which means the situation will unlikely be resolved until April at the earliest.  Even then, it will stick take a few months for the supply chain to catch up with demand and a for surplus to be established.

Via:Toms Hardware

Carly Page is a Freelance journalist, copywriter and editor specialising in Consumer/B2B technology. She has written for a range of titles including Computer Shopper, Expert Reviews, IT Pro, the Metro, PC Pro, TechRadar and Tes.

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