The highly anticipated Nvidia RTX 5090 and RTX 5080 are set to launch on January 30th, but reports from retailers and manufacturers are raising concerns about significant shortages. With eager buyers already lining up outside stores, these cards are expected to be incredibly popular despite their hefty price tags of $1,999 and $999 respectively.
Manufacturer MSI, as reported by WCCFTech, attributes the initial scarcity to the Lunar New Year, impacting the first wave of GPU shipments. Stock is expected to improve throughout February and beyond. Retailers are echoing these concerns. Overclockers UK reports receiving only a handful of RTX 5090 units, and previously stated they only had a few hundred RTX 5080 GPUs available for launch. PowerGPU in the US similarly predicted extremely limited availability for the RTX 5090 launch.
In response to the growing anxiety, Nvidia representative Tim@Nvidia issued a statement on the company's official forum acknowledging the high demand and anticipating stock-outs. The statement assures consumers that Nvidia and its partners are actively working to increase retail shipments.
Despite these assurances, the potential for shortages has already attracted scalpers. Several pre-sale listings on eBay are offering the RTX 5090 at drastically inflated prices; one listing shows an Asus ROG Astral RTX 5090 priced at $5,750—a staggering 187% markup.
Adding another layer of complexity to Nvidia's current situation, the company's share price experienced a significant 16.86% drop on Monday following the announcement of the Chinese AI model DeepSeek, which challenges Nvidia's dominance in the datacenter GPU market. This development could potentially impact Nvidia's stock allocation priorities this week.
Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090 – Photos
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