The highly anticipated Nvidia RTX 5090 and RTX 5080 are set to launch on January 30th, but concerns about limited availability are mounting. Reports from retailers and manufacturers suggest significant shortages are likely, even with eager customers already lining up. The coveted GPUs, priced at $1,999 and $999 respectively, are expected to be incredibly popular.

MSI, a major manufacturer, attributes the initial scarcity to the Lunar New Year, anticipating stock levels to improve in February. This shortage is echoed by retailers like Overclockers UK, reporting extremely limited initial allocations of the RTX 5090 (single digits) and a relatively small number of RTX 5080 units. PowerGPU in the US further predicts severely constrained availability for the RTX 5090 launch.

Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090 – Images

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In response to the growing concerns, Nvidia acknowledged the anticipated high demand and potential stock-outs in an official forum post. They assured customers that they and their partners are actively working to increase retail supply.

Despite Nvidia's statement, the scarcity is likely to benefit scalpers. Pre-sale listings on eBay already show inflated prices, with one Asus ROG Astral RTX 5090 listed for a staggering $5,750 – a massive 187% markup.

Adding to Nvidia's challenges, the company's stock price experienced a significant drop (16.86%) following the announcement of a new Chinese AI model, DeepSeek, which claims to have been trained at a significantly lower cost than Nvidia's solutions, potentially impacting their datacenter GPU sales.