Nvidia Expects RTX 3090 and RTX 3070 Shortages to Last until 2021, RTX 3070 Delayed Two Weeks

While the shortage spotlight has been on the lack of pre order availability for both the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and S, PC gamers have been having a tough time finding their equivalent of next generation hardware too. Graphics card manufacturer Nvidia found themselves facing unprecedented demand for their new RTX 3090 and RTX 3080 graphics cards, which sold out almost immediately after they became available. Now, according to Tom’s Hardware, Nvidia is expecting the resultant shortage of these cards to continue throughout 2020 and the company has delayed the release of the RTX 3070 card by an additional two weeks.

“I believe that demand will outstrip all of our supply through the year,” said Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang during a press call. “Remember, we’re also going into the double-whammy. 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.”

Nvidia apoligized for the shortage of RTX 3090 and 3080 cards in a forum post on Sept. 21, apologizing also for allowing bots and scalpers to buy a number of the cards before actual customers could get their hands on them. Jensen went on to elaborate that Nvidia is not experiencing a lack of manufacturing capabilities, but rather that demand has exceeded their already high expectations.

“Even if we knew about all the demand, I don’t think it’s possible to have ramped that fast. We’re ramping really, really hard. Yields are great, the product’s shipping fantastically, it’s just getting sold out instantly,” said Huang. “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.”

In order to avoid another store-emptying fiasco, Nvidia has pushed back the release of their RTX 3070 two weeks to Oct. 29 in order to build up a solid inventory. The RTX 3070 is expected to be a top pick for many PC gamers looking to upgrade, with a reasonable $499 price tag and capabilities that surpass the $1200 RTX 2080 Ti.

Demand for videogames and videogame related hardware has skyrocketed during the pandemic, a fact which prompted Sony to ramp up production of the PlayStation 5 from .