Artificial intelligence began to cause shortage of graphics cards: Prices increased by 40 percent!

Nvidia’s graphics card business is booming thanks to artificial intelligence. On the other hand, it seems that the company may not be able to meet the demand as it tries to increase production at TSMC. At least for now, the video card crisis, which is in its infancy, is valid for Nvidia’s professional cards for artificial intelligence workloads. However, as always, there is a possibility that the situation will change and consumer grade cards may also be affected.

Nvidia can’t keep up with demand

In particular, the rapid development of ChatGPT and other productive artificial intelligence models has resulted in Nvidia’s recent investments in this field benefiting from it. According to the reports, companies from all corners of the tech industry are queuing up to get Nvidia’s brand new GPUs, including the A100 and H100.

However, it seems that this queue will remain as a “tail” for a while. Because multiple reports show that Nvidia cannot keep up with the demand for artificial intelligence chips. The Nvidia A100 uses the TSMC 7nm process node, while the H100, which started shipping last May, is based on the TSMC 4N process node (an optimized version of the 5nm node designed for Nvidia). Since its launch, the company has seen a huge demand for its H100 and DGX H100 GPU powered servers. While Nvidia is trying to meet this demand, the recent artificial intelligence boom has taken a toll on the company’s efforts to meet demand.

Prices took flight

As we mentioned in our previous news, Nvidia is selling cropped versions of its A100 and H100 GPUs, known as A800 and H800, in China to circumvent US sanctions. These cards are up to 30 percent slower than the originals and have some limitations. However, there is such a great demand for these cards in China that they are sold for 40 percent more expensive than the A100 and H100. Even the V100, the first GPU with Tensor Core architecture released in 2018, retails for around $10,000 in China. Nvidia A800, on the other hand, is sold in the country for $ 36,500.

Nvidia routes orders to non-Chinese technology partners first. For this reason, it is stated that some of the orders in China may sag until December. Currently, the artificial intelligence industry is seen as the most lucrative area for Nvidia, and the company is expected to focus on this side even more. If a good balance is not struck, the supply of consumer-grade graphics cards may drop and yet another graphics card crisis may occur.