The New RTX 4090
The recent release of Nvidia’s RTX 4090 graphics card has been highly successful, in spite of the hefty price tag. Unfortunately for those who have been trying to purchase the flagship Lovelace GPU, the situation could soon become even worse.
According to rumours, Nvidia has asked TSMC (the company that manufactures Lovelace GPU chips) to redirect some of the RTX 4090 orders to produce H100 GPUs instead. However, it is important to exercise caution before taking this information as fact, as it originates from the Chinese forum MyDrivers, which is not always the most reliable source.
Even so, Tom’s Hardware has pointed out that, while they were unable to confirm the rumours, there are several reasons why they could be true. Let’s take a look at some of these reasons next.
It is believed that US sanctions against the Chinese supercomputer sector could be the reason behind this. These sanctions would prevent Nvidia from shipping GPUs to China if the company does not receive a waiver, and as Tom’s notes, this could cost them $400 million.
This could mean that Nvidia may need to switch production from AD102 chips (RTX 4090) to H100 in order to get more of the latter shipped before the chip ban comes into effect.
Although RTX 4090 graphics cards do come with a premium price tag and profit level, the serious computing arena where the H100 sits is in a different class in terms of profit levels (we’re talking $10,000 products here, remember). So, in the short-term Nvidia would theoretically want to get as many of those H100 chips out and sold as possible.
What does this mean for the people who want to buy an RTX 4090 graphics card? It’s easy to see that with less GPUs available, there could be even less graphics cards in stock – and it’s already difficult to find one. (This is especially true in the US, where all the major retailers are out of stock of RTX 4090 models at the time this is being written).
If this happens, the RTX 4090 will be more desirable for scalpers. Speaking of them, though, it seems that prices for scalped RTX 4090s are going down, which is a good sign that maybe the situation isn’t as dire as it could be.
It’s also important to remember that even if this does happen, it will take some time for TSMC orders to be switched around for Nvidia – meaning that we wouldn’t feel any effects for a while.
As always, time will tell with this one. And anyway, the RTX 4090 isn’t exactly a popular item – though clearly not so unpopular that it can’t sell out, as we’re seeing right now. If you’re looking to buy Nvidia’s fastest desktop graphics card, be sure to check our guide on where to buy the RTX 4090.