Tuesday, December 6th 2022
AMD Radeon RX 7900 RDNA3 GPU Launch Could Face Scarcity, China Loses Reference Card Privilege
AMD's next-generation Radeon RX 7900 high-end graphics cards are set to arrive next week and bring the new RDNA3 GPU architecture to the masses. However, it seems like the customers will have to fight for their purchase as the availability could be scarce at launch, leading to potentially increased prices with low stocks. According to Igor's Lab report, Germany will receive only 3,000 reference MBA (Made By AMD) units of Radeon RX 7900 series cards. In contrast, the rest of the EMEA region will receive only 7,000 MBA units. These numbers are lower than expected, so AIB partners may improve the supply once their designs hit shelves.
On the other hand, mainland China will not receive any MBA units of the new cards as a sign of increasing tension with Taiwan. Of course, AMD's board partners will supply their designs to China, and they are allowed to; however, it seems that only AMD is making a statement here. In addition to supply issues, the launch is rumored to be covered in BIOS issues such as memory leaks and the COVID-19 outbreak affecting production in closed factories. Of course, all of this information should be taken with a grain of salt, and we must wait for the official launch before making any further assumptions.
Source:
via VideoCardz
On the other hand, mainland China will not receive any MBA units of the new cards as a sign of increasing tension with Taiwan. Of course, AMD's board partners will supply their designs to China, and they are allowed to; however, it seems that only AMD is making a statement here. In addition to supply issues, the launch is rumored to be covered in BIOS issues such as memory leaks and the COVID-19 outbreak affecting production in closed factories. Of course, all of this information should be taken with a grain of salt, and we must wait for the official launch before making any further assumptions.
57 Comments on AMD Radeon RX 7900 RDNA3 GPU Launch Could Face Scarcity, China Loses Reference Card Privilege
Glad I picked up a 3080 12GB and 3080 ti brand new at the price bottoms of the market. They can hold me over until this scarcity and scalping ridiculousness clears (hopefully).
Only 10k cards would really be low if true. Needs a quick trigger finger to get your hands on one.
Looks like roads have to stay snow-covered with the loads of salt needed for this launch.
Asus, Gigabyte, Sapphire, Powercolor etc are Taiwanese, subject to no such restrictions.
AIB partners are almost exclusively headquartered in Taiwan or Hong Kong. As multinational corporations operating outside of China, the AIB vendors can buy GPUs from AMD as components outside the PRC without breaching the sanctions. These partners themselves can sell their end products to the Chinese market from within the PRC, also breaching no sanctions. The conversion from parts to a completed product is where the legal distinction lies.
AMD cannot sell their own end products directly in China without breaching those sanctions, just as AMD could not supply GPUs to any company exclusively operating within the PRC.
That's my understanding of how the sanctions work, if you have a better, sourced article you want to link I'm happy to stand corrected but "Yes they are" doesn't really help me understand what I'm missing if I'm wrong.
A sense of urgency in the air?
Limited supply concerns?
I don't believe it, That can't be true! we have never seen this behavior before!!
that firmware memory leak also sounds like situation: normal on a rushed AMD product launch - before rdna2, they were releasing new arch once every 3 years!