AMD has confirmed that it limited the supply of both CPUs and GPUs in the fourth quarter of 2022, according to a report from Videocardz. This restriction may disappoint the PC hardware community, but it was likely done for sound business reasons. The act of restricting stock levels, also known as supply chain management, helps to prevent an oversupply situation where demand is lower than supply, leading to a decrease in prices.
AMD Admits to Limiting GPU and CPU Availability in Q4 2022
AMD CEO Dr. Lisa Su revealed in a financial call with shareholders that the company deliberately restricted the supply of GPUs and CPUs in the fourth quarter of 2022 due to three main reasons. Firstly, they wanted to avoid overwhelming the market with unsold products, which could result in a buildup of retailer inventory. Secondly, they aimed to prevent a surplus of stock, which would drive retailers to offer discounts. And thirdly, Q4 and Q1 are typically slow seasons for hardware sales, with consumers being more frugal during this time.
Additionally, the new Ryzen 7000 and Radeon 7000 platforms have not been performing as well as expected in the market, with consumers still leaning towards Nvidia for graphics cards and facing high transitional costs to switch to Ryzen 7000.
Despite some criticism, this decision seems to have been a sound business move for AMD.