NVIDIA Delays RTX 3070 As Shortage Expected To Extend Into 2021

Frustrated NVIDIA customers looking to buy the popular new RTX 30 series graphics cards will likely have to wait longer, with shortages expect to last into next year and the release of the 3070 delayed.

The launches last month of the 3080 and 3090 GPUs were marred by stock shortages, with record demand from consumers, coupled with bots and scalpers, selling out the 3080 in minutes amid crashes and delays on retailer websites. The launch of the lower-end RTX 3070 – which will sell in Australia from $809 – has been pushed back to October 29 in the hopes of avoiding a similar shortage.

Jensen Huang, CEO of NVIDIA, said in a press Q&A that supplies are expected to be low throughout the remainder of 2020, with customers clamouring for the new Ampere-powered cards and a “double whammy” on the way.

“The double-whammy is the holiday season. Even before the holiday season, we were doing incredibly well, and then you add on top of it the ‘Ampere factor,’ and then you add on top of that the ‘Ampere holiday factor,’ and we’re going to have a really really big Q4 season,” he said.

According to Huang, the issue has not been with supply – instead, demand has outstripped the manufacturer’s already high expectations.

“Retailers will tell you they haven’t seen a phenomenon like this in over a decade of computing. It hearkens back to the old days of Windows 95 and Pentium when people were just out of their minds to buy this stuff.

“So this is a phenomenon like we’ve not seen in a long time, and we just weren’t prepared for it,” he said.

Though NVIDIA has ramped up production, Huang said he doubted that adequate supply could have been secured even had the company known.

“We’re ramping really, really hard. Yields are great, the product’s shipping fantastically, it’s just getting sold out instantly.

“I appreciate it very much, I just don’t think there’s a real problem to solve. It’s a phenomenon to observe. It’s just a phenomenon,” he said.