Nvidia RTX 3080 stock disaster to continue into 2022, warns chip maker

Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080
(Image credit: Nvidia)

The Nvidia RTX 30-series stock disaster will probably continue into 2022, according to one of Nvidia’s parts suppliers.

Taiwanese chip maker TSMC, which also produces silicone for AMD and Intel, warned that while it’s taking steps to increase capacity, it may not be able to meet demand until 2023, let alone this year or in 2022. So if you’ve been searching for where to buy the RTX 3080 or any of Nvidia’s other RTX 30-series cards, you may need to steel yourself for an even longer wait.

Per TechRadar, TSMC CEO C.C. Wei told investors “We see the demand continue to be high. In 2023, I hope we can offer more capacity to support our customers. At that time, we’ll start to see the supply chain tightness release a little bit.

“We have acquired land and equipment and started the construction of new facilities. We are hiring thousands of employees and expanding our capacity at multiple sites.”

Wei’s comments come mere days after Nvidia, in its own investors call, warned that RTX 30-series stock will remain low for “much of this year.” So if anything, TSMC is sharing worse news than before: it might remain difficult to buy the latest graphics cards from a reputable retailer well into 2022, and maybe even in 2023.

Despite the fact that the RTX 30-series only launched late last year, that timeframe brings up the possibility of chip shortages affecting Nvida’s next generation of GPUs as well: new GeForce series usually launch every two years. It would be a huge shame if this stock disaster spoiled the RTX 30-series for the entire duration of its shelf life.

In the meantime, Nvidia is looking for ways to redirect some demand away from the RTX 30-series. Our sister site Tom’s Hardware reported that the company is making a second attempt at introducing an Ethereum mining limiter to the GeForce RTX 3060, with a view towards making it less popular with digital currency miners — thus freeing up stock for ordinary PC owners. The first attempt ended in embarrassing failure after Nvidia’s own beta drivers rendered the limiter ineffective.

James Archer

James is currently Hardware Editor at Rock Paper Shotgun, but before that was Audio Editor at Tom’s Guide, where he covered headphones, speakers, soundbars and anything else that intentionally makes noise. A PC enthusiast, he also wrote computing and gaming news for TG, usually relating to how hard it is to find graphics card stock.

  • Farwestern
    "Taiwanese chip maker TSMC, which also produces silicone for AMD and Intel". WOW, I didn't know that TSMC made Silicone in addition to Silicon. Were they implicated in the Silicone breast implant litigation of the 1990's at some point too?
    Reply