NVIDIA: GPU inventory to remain lean throughout Q1 2021

Those hoping GPU shortages will ease soon are in for a cold shower as both AMD and NVIDIA expect the situation will last for quite some time. AMD said it expects improvement in the second half of this year and the company surprised everyone by not launching mid-range RDNA2-based GPUs at CES 2021.

There's no positive message from NVIDIA CFO Colette Kress either, she told analysts that GPU inventory is expected to remain lean throughout this quarter. It's unknown whether this statement should be interpreted as an expectation about potential improvement in the second quarter.

This demand has remained stronger for longer. Okay? So, supply does remain tight at this time. We expect the overall channel inventories, meaning the inventories that are with our AIC partners as well as in our e-tail and retail channels will likely remain lean throughout Q1.

Our overall capacity has not been able to keep up with that overall strong demand that we have seen. We’ve seen in terms of constraints, constraints really from the overall global surge of compute and the overall capacity, capacity that may be necessary for assembly and test and/or sub trades as well. But again, we remain focused on this and working each day to improve our overall supply situation. […] Our channel inventory is being lean and likely remaining lean though. We’ll focus in terms of how to think about that supply for our revenue as we think on Q1.

— Colette Kress, EVP and CFO of NVIDIA at J.P. Morgan Tech/Auto Forum Conference, Seeking Alpha