When Will The GPU Shortage End?Īll-in-all the GPU Shortage of 2021 looks to be no better than 2020 for much of the year. Demand for silicon chips for all devices generally has increased, not just PCs, due to a wide need for more electronic devices to permit people to work from home and generally overcome the various telecommunication challenges the pandemic has brought about. The massive portion of the world’s population which has ended up stuck at home during COVID lockdowns, has itself led to an increase in demand for computer equipment from those seeking to upgrade their existing rigs or build new machines for both work and play. However, many of these supply issues, particularly those in China, had been overcome towards the end of 2020, so what’s the rest of the story? Demand During The PandemicĪ huge, often understated, reason for the silicon and GPU shortage has been the dramatic rise in the number of active PC users and gamers over 2020.

This has impacted the supply of many electronic goods besides graphics cards, including mobile phones and televisions, and has even affected car production. Coronavirus generally disrupted the manufacturing process and therefore supply of silicon chips, and events like the winter storm which hit Texas in February 2021, causing factories to close, as well as US sanctions against China, have not helped. However, demand from miners isn’t the only reason. Cryptocurrency mining has been going on for several years now, but 2020 saw the demand of minders reach critical levels, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic as people saw alternative income streams and were drawn in by the rising price of Bitcoin. Mining can often be torture for a GPU as well, running it at full capacity 24/7, often resulting these GPUs being burnt out much more quickly than they would in a normal gaming PC. Hungry miners are buying mid-to-high-end GPUs as soon as they become available, rapidly emptying stocks and driving up prices as far as 2x MSRP. Without stating the obvious, the shortage of graphics cards is caused by demand outstripping supply, and one of the chief reasons demand is so great is due to cryptocurrency mining.

Graphics card shortage