Waiting For NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 5090? Brace For A Possible Shortage Of Next-Gen GPUs
The cat is out of the bag, NVIDIA is on an absolute winning streak that has taken the world by storm, as evidenced its latest earnings report. Gaming GPUs with the GeForce RTX 40 series mostly held on with good inventory for gamers. Meaning, its data center GPUs are hot commodities, with demand increasing at an impressive clip on the heels of an AI gold rush.
During NVIDIA's earnings call, Colette Kress, NVIDIA's Chief Financial Officer, stated "We expect our next-generation products to be supply constrained as demand far exceeds supply." NVIDIA's next generation Blackwell architecture will be enticing for the market, but it will come with potential inventory issues due to demand. We have seen the fate of data center GPUs intermingle with gaming products all too often, such as the push in China for GeForce RTX 4090s to keep up with AI demand.
This could very well mean that future gaming products, such as a potential GeForce RTX 5090, may prove very difficult for gamers to get a hold of. The GeForce RTX 4090 itself experienced a shortage during the initial phases of its life, with gamers scooping up the class-leading product en-masse. After a brief period of good availability, it once again became scarce as the AI market sought to acquire it as well.
One can almost expect that NVIDIA's next-gen Blackwell data center products will certainly be tough to get if the current trajectory remains constant. Future products such as NVIDIA's B100 AI GPU likely will have significant performance gains, making it an easy purchasing decision for data centers looking to remain competitive. Whether this AI demand carries over to the GeForce RTX lineup and slows that supply for gamers is yet to be seen, but the stage is certainly set.
During NVIDIA's earnings call, Colette Kress, NVIDIA's Chief Financial Officer, stated "We expect our next-generation products to be supply constrained as demand far exceeds supply." NVIDIA's next generation Blackwell architecture will be enticing for the market, but it will come with potential inventory issues due to demand. We have seen the fate of data center GPUs intermingle with gaming products all too often, such as the push in China for GeForce RTX 4090s to keep up with AI demand.
This could very well mean that future gaming products, such as a potential GeForce RTX 5090, may prove very difficult for gamers to get a hold of. The GeForce RTX 4090 itself experienced a shortage during the initial phases of its life, with gamers scooping up the class-leading product en-masse. After a brief period of good availability, it once again became scarce as the AI market sought to acquire it as well.
One can almost expect that NVIDIA's next-gen Blackwell data center products will certainly be tough to get if the current trajectory remains constant. Future products such as NVIDIA's B100 AI GPU likely will have significant performance gains, making it an easy purchasing decision for data centers looking to remain competitive. Whether this AI demand carries over to the GeForce RTX lineup and slows that supply for gamers is yet to be seen, but the stage is certainly set.
Could a future shortage of NVIDIA's Blackwell GeForce RTX GPUs open the path for a competitor to sweep in? AMD has had some impressive attempts at challenging NVIDIA in the gaming sector, namely the Radeon RX 7900 XTX and Radeon RX 7800 XT. The Radeon RX 7900 XTX proved to match the GeForce RTX 4080 well in rasterized performance for less money. Likewise, the Radeon RX 7800 XT put up some strong competition against the GeForce RTX 4070, resulting in price drops around these market segments.
While rumors always swirl as to the fate of future AMD Radeon GPUs, it would be a boon for gamers if they released highly-competitive products. This is especially true if NVIDIA does experience an eventual shortage of its Blackwell GeForce RTX GPUs, which may become expensive on the second-hand market much like during the GPU crisis with cryptocurrency in 2021.
It is clear that NVIDIA is reaping the rewards from its data center products to a record-level, what remains unclear is what effect that ultimately will have on its gaming division, considering its CFO's disclosure. Gamers must wait patiently, products likely will have the performance to impress, but availability and pricing may once again trend in a more difficult direction.
While rumors always swirl as to the fate of future AMD Radeon GPUs, it would be a boon for gamers if they released highly-competitive products. This is especially true if NVIDIA does experience an eventual shortage of its Blackwell GeForce RTX GPUs, which may become expensive on the second-hand market much like during the GPU crisis with cryptocurrency in 2021.
It is clear that NVIDIA is reaping the rewards from its data center products to a record-level, what remains unclear is what effect that ultimately will have on its gaming division, considering its CFO's disclosure. Gamers must wait patiently, products likely will have the performance to impress, but availability and pricing may once again trend in a more difficult direction.
