We all know about the GPU shortage issue, but it looks like it will not be solved until Q1 2021. AMD and NVIDIA have officially confirmed it along with the increased prices due to an increase in tariffs and GPU mining.
NVIDIA’s EVP and CFO confirmed it in an interview with Seeking Alpha. According to the CFO, demand has exceeded supplies; hence the inventory would remain limited until Q1 2021, but there was no information for Q2.
This demand has remained stronger for longer. Okay? So, supply does remain tight at this time. We expect the overall channel inventories, meaning the inventories that are with our AIC partners as well as in our e-tail and retail channels will likely remain lean throughout Q1.
Our overall capacity has not been able to keep up with that overall strong demand that we have seen. We’ve seen in terms of constraints, constraints really from the overall global surge of compute and the overall capacity, capacity that may be necessary for assembly and test and/or sub trades as well. But again, we remain focused on this and working each day to improve our overall supply situation. […] Our channel inventory is being lean and likely remaining lean though. We’ll focus in terms of how to think about that supply for our revenue as we think on Q1.
— Colette Kress, EVP and CFO of NVIDIA at J.P. Morgan Tech/Auto Forum Conference, Seeking Alpha
On the other hand, while talking to The Verge, AMD confirmed that they will continue to manufacture and sell the Radeon RX 6000 at MSRP on their own website.
AMD’s CEO, Dr. Lisa Su, was interviewed by select media. Unfortunately, she requested not to publish the whole transcript, but Anand tech managed to publish the interesting bit and explain it.
The CEO confirmed that they were aware of the price increase and had prepared beforehand.
We knew about the expiration of some tariff policies, and in advance worked towards a more flexible supply chain as it relates to AMD. We are committed to keeping GPU pricing as close to our suggested retail pricing as much as possible, because it’s the only way to be fair to the users.
Normally when we have GPU launches, our own branded cards are available initially but then fade away for our partners to pick up. This time around we’re not phasing out our RX 6000 series, enabling us to sell direct to customers as low as possible. We’re encouraging partners to do the same. Not only tariffs, but the COVID environment has increased shipping and freight costs, which are hard to avoid. As we get into a more normal environment, this should improve. This also matters for our planned graphics updates through the first half of the year, as we have a lot of product coming to market.
— AMD CEO Dr. Lisa Su to AnandTech
NVIDIA has just announced RTX 3060 at CES 2021. Surprisingly AMD hasn’t announced any graphics card at CES 2021 but has revealed multiple SKUs that feature dual-fan and single-fan cooling solutions.
Via Notebookcheck