Nvidia RTX 3080 stock shortage continues and could drive prices up

The retailer confirms that the availability of graphics cards will get even worse in the first quarter.

According to a European retailer, the shortage of Nvidia RTX 3000 series graphics cards could get worse.

Supply problems have become an ongoing problem for the latest generations of Nvidia graphics cards, starting with the global shortage of GDDR6 video memory as a factor, continuing with the global pandemic and the spread of the Covid-19 vaccine.

Things won’t get better any time soon as Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium-based retailer Alternate has received confirmation from Nvidia that availability of the latest graphics cards, including the RTX 3080 and RTX 3060 Ti, will continue to decline in the first quarter of the year.

“Unfortunately, we received news from manufacturers and Nvidia that the availability of RTX 3000 graphics cards in the first quarter of 2021 will only get worse,” the seller said on its website.

“This is due to a shortage of raw materials and Nvidia chips, as well as the Chinese New Year, which will lead to the temporary closure of factories.”

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According to the retailer, the RTX 3080 and RTX 3060 Ti are the hardest to buy, given “very little shipments” and “large number of open orders.” This means that it is likely that even pre-order users will have to wait for months.

“This all means that the likelihood of the RTX 3080 coming out, especially for new orders, is virtually zero,” adds Alternate.

You may have better luck with the RTX 3070 and RTX 3090, as while the retailer expects “small batches” of these cards during the quarter, they are not as popular and therefore have a shorter wait period.

The news gets worse for those who have not yet ordered RTX 3000 series graphics cards. Retailer warns that while prices remain the same for those who have already pre-ordered Ampere graphics cards, prices for new orders “will continue to rise in the near future.” …

It remains to be seen when the inventory situation, which also affects AMD RX 6000 graphics cards, will change, but this is unlikely to happen anytime soon.

Nvidia’s chief financial officer, Colette Kress, recently confirmed that stocks “are likely to remain scarce throughout the first quarter,” which means that the situation will not be resolved until April. Even so, it will take several months for the supply chain to catch up with demand and create a surplus of product.