Nvidia’s CEO Hints RTX 4000 GPUs Will Arrive Later Than Usual

Nvidia might be preparing to release the company’s next-generation RTX 4000 graphics cards later than usual. 

In an earnings call on Wednesday, Nvidia’s CEO Jensen Huang noted the company is still trying to clear existing GPU inventory at retailers. In his closing remarks, Huang then made a curious statement: 

“In gaming, our partners and ecosystem are responding to a sudden slowdown in consumer demand and correcting channel inventory,” he said. “Still, the fundamentals of gaming are strong. We’ll get through this over the next few months and go into next year with our new architecture. I look forward to telling you more about it at GTC next month.”

Following a historic GPU shortage, Nvidia is currently facing a graphics card oversupply situation due to plummeting demand from consumers and cryptocurrency miners. In response, the company has been initiating price cuts on the current crop of RTX 3000 GPUs to help clear the product supplies.

The statement from Huang signals that Nvidia wants to wait for inventory levels and demand to normalize before kicking off its next-generation products. For perspective, Nvidia officially introduced the RTX 3000 series back in Sept. 1st 2020.  The RTX 2000 series was announced back on August 20th 2018.

In the earnings call, Huang mentioned Nvidia’s first strategy is to reduce the “sell-in,” or the amount of GPUs going to retailers, over the next two quarters. “We’ve also instituted programs to price position our current products to prepare for next-generation products,” he said.  

“All of this, we anticipate, we’re working toward a path to being in good shape going into next year,” he added. “That’s what our game plan is.”

The company also expects its gaming graphics revenue to decline sequentially during its third fiscal quarter, from August to October —another indicator the RTX 4000 series launch will occur later in the future. (Previous rumors(Opens in a new window) have said Nvidia might only launch one RTX 4000 GPU this year.)

In an earnings statement, Nvidia added(Opens in a new window): “Gaming and Professional Visualization revenue are expected to decline sequentially, as OEMs and channel partners reduce inventory levels to align with current levels of demand and prepare for NVIDIA’s new product generation. In the meantime, the company plans on holding its GTC event from Sept. 19th to the 22nd, where it’ll talk about advancements in PC graphics and perhaps the new architecture to power the RTX 4000 series.

Editor’s note: This story’s headline has been corrected to note Nvidia’s CEO hinted the RTX 4000 series could launch later than usual, as opposed to next year.