AMD's Frank Azor hints at plentiful Navi 2x GPU launch stocks that could prove problematic for Nvidia this holiday season

It looks like Nvidia has managed to pull one of its best paper launches to date with the latest RTX 3000 gaming GPUs. The RTX 3080 "stocks" evaporated in no time on launch day, and the same happened with the RTX 3090. From what we are hearing, stocks will be extremely limited up until late October / early November, and it looks like the RTX 2080 Ti users who rushed to sell their cards immediately after the RTX 3080 announcements are getting double-crossed once again. All these stock problems Nvidia is facing now could work to AMD’s advantage, since team red intends to launch its Navi 2x cards around the same time the RTX 3080 cards would get enough stocks across the globe. A few questions still remain: will we see sufficient stocks for the new Navi cards at launch, or is AMD going to pull a quick paper launch, as well? Moreover, will the AMD price points beat Nvidia’s?

Many industry insiders are claiming that AMD will indeed rise to the challenge with the upcoming Navi 2x GPUs, but we still do not have clear performance figures to support that. On the other hand, AMD’s confidence appears to be at an all-time high, as we see the legendary Frank Azor himself interjecting in a Twitter thread related to the Navi 2x launch stocks. The tweet in question comes from respected director and product designer Andre Elijah, who is clearly frustrated from the impossibility of getting his hands on an RTX 3090 GPU. Elijah continues with a $10 bet that AMD will pull a similar paper launch with the Navi 2x cards, to which Frank Azor quickly answers that he is looking forward to taking Elijah’s $10.

Later on, a commenter on the same tweet offers to give $100 and a dinner to Azor if AMD manages to get sufficient stocks at launch. Azor, in turn, answers that “there are few things in this world sweeter than taking your money! #extramotivatednow.” Of course, Azor could be referring to the launch day that is clearly not the same as the announcement day. If announcement day is set for October 28, the actual launch day will most likely be set for mid-November. Even so, if AMD can provide decent stocks and price points, Nvidia may see serious competition during the holiday season.