Graphics card stock levels could improve in the near future, and the overall situation could improve significantly as the second half of 2022 unfolds, going through the last of the grapevine.
This is according to a report from DigiTimes (reported by Tom's Hardware), which states that the shortage of ABF substrate, i.e. Ajinomoto Build-up Film substrates, one of the basic components of a motherboard such as a graphics card, is going to to be "significantly reduced". ' after mid-2022.
So hopefully, as the middle of the year rolls on, we should see considerably better graphics card availability, with DigiTimes noting that ASRock and PowerColor (who make AMD cards) are poised to ramp up their production levels at a rate "progressive" throughout the second half of 2022.
In fact, the inventory situation could start to improve by then, as the ABF substrate issues mentioned above will start to subside after February, so starting in March we should see things pick up a bit. All of this assumes that the sources DigiTimes turned to are solid and that their predictions hold true.
The report further states that graphics cards will continue to sell strongly and prices will remain at high levels through the first half of 2022. That being said, we are seeing signs that card prices are starting to decline right now, but they are still well, well above the manufacturer's recommended price, although any drop is more than welcome, of course.
Analysis: General optimism that things will improve later in 2022
As Tom points out, there have been other rumors about the ABF substrate situation, and people like Singapore's Business Times believe that the shortage will be a much longer-term crisis, one that could continue for years to come. This report is now four months old, mind you, but it's still a big difference from the prediction made by DigiTimes.
We can only hope that the latter will be more profitable, for the sake of the entire tech industry that uses ABF substrates, not just GPUs. And what's also cause for optimism in terms of possible relief from graphics card stock issues are the recent predictions from Nvidia and AMD.
AMD CEO Lisa Su said she expects chip shortages and supply issues to improve in the second half of 2022, and Collette Kress, Nvidia's chief financial officer, echoed those sentiments. So there is a general feeling that things will get better by the end of this year, at least for GPUs, though of course no one has a crystal ball and not everyone shares that optimism (Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger , is still on the side that believes the chip shortage could last until 2023).
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