this post was submitted on 17 Dec 2025
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Two ways to read this and I think both are somewhat true.
Option one; They're OPEC now. They set the supply, and you bring the demand because you have no other choice. This lets them push prices up, which pushes margins up, and that hopefully props up their insanely inflated share price a little longer.
Option two; They're well aware that demand is going to fall off a cliff soon. We're already at "Nvidia is paying people to buy their GPUs" and have been for a while. The AI industry can't afford to keep this train running, and even financial chicanery and circular dealing will only get them so far. Companies are building out data centres with zero plan for how to make any profit from them. When the GPUs they have age out, they're not gonna buy more, they're gonna go bankrupt (allowing the banks to sieze the mountain of now worthless three year old burned out GPUs that they used as collateral). And there's not enough venture capital left for new data centre builds. The genAI financial engine is reaching its peak, and Nvidia doesn't want to be stuck with a mountain of production that no one wants to buy.
Option two is not correct, option one is correct. This announcement is specifically for consumer gaming GPU's only, it does not affect institutional datacenter customers.
This is Nvidia saying "thanks small fry, you were useful, but we're leaving you behind now. Fight for the scraps." Complete cartel behavior.
Then just buy AMD.
AMD is a puppydog that follows Nvidia around on the open market with 10% or less market share. If Nvidia constricts supply and causes a massive price jump and shortages, AMD will just follow the pricing curve and we will still get no GPU's.
AMD is also 100% reliant on TSMC and VRAM suppliers, the same exact supply pressures causing Nvidia to turn off the consumer tap will come for AMD too.
If this is about supply pressures, it's not Nvidia acting as a cartel, is it?
AMD has, as far as I understand, been outcompeting Nvidia on value for a good while. If this is Nvidia just being anti-consumer, I'd expect that to continue
And yet their market share doesn't increase. Because Nvidia holds a stranglehold on both the software (CUDA, RTX support, frame gen, etc) AND sheer brand recognition- gamers always complain about Nvidia and want better AMD cards, but continue to line up in droves to buy Nvidia cards no matter what.
Nvidia knows they can do whatever the fuck they want right now.
When their only competition just hiked prices, why would they keep theirs low? That's free money.
They'll still undercut, just as they are doing.
I just don't think moaning about the companies makes any sense. If you imagine the most utopian scenario you think of, with communal ownership of all production, how do you think the commune is going to allocate GPUs? It's going to stick a load in hyped AI products and gamers will be last in line, just like now.
Sure, but AMD never undercuts enough for it to matter. They're always behind on features, brand recognition, software and say... eh $50 off.
The last time AMD actually undercut and sold well was the RX480 and that was a long time ago. AMD has just settled for 10% and is not willing to fight for more, and with enterprise being the big market now it's definitely not going to change.
They'll have to come crawling back when the business customers stop buying. AI winter is coming.
That's still of no concern. If it all collapses and they need to start selling to consumers again, gamers will be desperate for the upgrade and pay top dollar. Screwing us over is a win-win for them.