Traveling to Akihabra for the express purpose of picking up a high-end GeForce RTX GPU? Cancel that trip, as local outlet IT Media is reporting that Japanese shops, particularly those in one of the country’s biggest electronics meccas, is running out of GeForce RTX 4090 and GeForce RTX 4080 graphics cards despite their starting price of $1,599 and $ 1,199, respectively. Quotes from shop representatives have suggested that the GeForce RTX 4090 is selling out simply because it’s a great GPU, while the GeForce RTX 4080 is becoming harder to find because most people in Japan are going for the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti instead, and vendors are reducing their stock in response.
“There’s been a lot of demand for the RTX 4090, but it’s becoming a little difficult to get it in stock,” said one rep.
“It seems like there is a worldwide supply shortage,” speculated another. “This may be due to reflection on the RTX 3000 family and to avoid overstocking the market.”
On the other hand, there are several shops that are actually running low on RTX 4080 cards. PC SHOP Ark says, “Due to the problem of segregation, fewer people are choosing RTX 4080 cards. If you are looking for a high-end card, you are likely to go for the RTX 4070 Ti, and if you are looking for an ultra-high-end card, you will go all the way to the RTX 4090. That is why we are deliberately stocking up on RTX 4080 cards. We are narrowing down the number of people.”
Overall, the stock of cards equipped with GeForce RTX 4090/4080 is thinning across the city, but the situation seems to be different in each city. If you are considering an ultra-high-end graphics card, it would be a good idea to keep an eye on trends.