NVIDIA has been diverting the bulk of its AD102 shipments to China to maximize AIC stocks of the RTX 4090 before the US sanctions come into effect. Contrary to previous reports, the GeForce RTX 4090 (a consumer GPU) will be banned in China after the 17th of November. However, it won’t stop AICs from selling units already present in their inventories. Sales of additional units to AIBs will be halted.
NVIDIA has allegedly maximized its AD102 shipments to China to equip its partners with maximum inventory before the sanctions kick in. As expected, this has caused a bit of a shortage in Western markets, with prices of the cheapest RTX 4090s going as high as $1,700 on Newegg US. Amazon’s most affordable RTX 4090 has hiked up to $1,699.
The prices of the GeForce RTX 4090 are expected to remain high till the holiday season, if not throughout it. There is a good chance that NVIDIA’s lawyers will find a loophole in US sanctions to re-allow the sales of the RTX 4090 across mainland China. However, there’s no guarantee that a resolution will be reached before the restriction kicks in later this month.
Via: Zed Wang.
