Any gamer that’s tried to buy a GPU or a console in the last 18 months knows all too well just how bad the market situation is. Pandemic related shortages show few signs of easing. High demand and supply bottlenecks continue to hit the gaming industry hard. Oh, and let’s not forget all that GPU mining demand too!
Those looking for some rays of hope in the short term might have to lower their expectations following comments from Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang. Huang made the comments during an interview with Yahoo Finance to discuss its recent GTC tech showcase.
“I think that through the next year, demand is going to far exceed supply. We don’t have any magic bullets in navigating the supply chain,” Huang said. Ouch.
Intel’s CEO Pat Gelsinger shares a similar dim short term view. “We’re in the worst of it now, every quarter next year we’ll get incrementally better, but they’re not going to have supply-demand balance until 2023,” Gelsinger said during a recent interview with CNBC to discuss Intel’s third quarter earnings.
Black Friday 2021 deals: the place to go for the all the best early Black Friday bargains.
If your heart just sank a little, there should be some hope coming for buyers looking to buy a GPU at somewhere near RRP. GPU pricing and availability should gradually get better in 2022 as Ethereum shifts towards proof of stake and away from GPU based proof of work. Mining purchases will drop off prior to the switch as there will be less time to recoup the costs of expensive purchases. That’s the theory anyway. Additionally, Intel’s Alchemist GPUs could provide welcome supply if they’re able to offer a decent level of price/performance.
Back to the short term, things might be so bad that Black Friday sales could be affected. Can we really expect manufacturers or retailers to offer deep discounts at a time when demand exceeds supply? We’ll be all over the best deals as we always are, but this year, you might need to be especially quick if you’re a gamer hoping to grab a truly drool worthy bargain.
