Rumors are swirling about tightening supplies of Nvidia’s GeForce graphics cards starting later this year. According to reports out of Taiwan, stocks may run low in Q4 2023, sparking worries of price hikes akin to previous shortages.
Details remain fuzzy – no word on which specific GPU models could be affected. But hints of broad consumer-line constraints not only in Asia but also for US and European markets. MyDrivers predicts severely limited availability soon, with potential price jumps for some products.
The culprit behind Nvidia allegedly dialing back production? Prioritizing manufacturing of highly profitable AI accelerators for booming data center and research markets. Shifting focus there makes business sense given immensity of opportunity. However, on the surface this move seems at odds with imminent launches of refreshed “Super” variants of RTX 40-series cards – rumored CES 2024 announcements that could shake up our graphics card rankings.
If Nvidia is indeed cutting back GPU output overall, why launch new models now? One theory suggests a need to rejig the mid-range and upscale Lovelace stack given tepid RTX 4080 reception. The Super refreshes could restore consumer appeal against AMD until next-gen launches. And existing RTX 4080 and 4070 Ti cards won’t disappear – they’ll just be supplanted by newer Super versions.
Plus, expected aggressive pricing of those refreshed cards doesn’t align with fears of widespread price inflation. Then again, Taiwan supply chain chatter isn’t gospel. This report raises eyebrows but requires further verification before drawing conclusions. Because after past pricing debacles, another round of GPU inflation remains in nobody’s interest – neither Nvidia’s nor gamers’.
