(Image credit: Google)

Based on a machine translation, a January 10 report from ITmedia, retailers in Akihabara have resigned themselves to ongoing price pressure and supply issues across PC components. Multiple shops are reportedly saying that GPUs are selling out almost as soon as they arrive, with higher-end models becoming increasingly difficult to keep in stock, and there is little clarity on when replacements will be available.

The report describes the GPU aisle as "a little bit spicy," with staff at various retailers telling the outlet that, while demand remains "steady and informed," and few customers are engaged in panic buying, inventory is thin enough that availability has become a big concern. At PC Studio Akihabara Parts Museum, employees said any graphics card that reaches the sales floor tends to sell immediately.

This January update builds on reports from late December, when Akihabara shops were already limiting purchases of higher-capacity GPUs to one of each SKU per customer group and warning that 16GB-class cards might be difficult to replenish. What has shifted since then is the degree to which the shortage is visible on the sales floor, with one retailer resorting to covering empty shelves with a curtain because there’s no stock to fill them, and little prospect of any arriving in the near term.

While the reporting focuses on Japan, make no mistake: the affected products fall into a category that has been under pressure globally. GPUs with higher memory capacities are more exposed to rising memory costs and constrained — or, let’s face it, virtually non-existent — memory supply, and retailers are now beginning to see those pressures translate into empty shelves. Expect this to get worse throughout the year; we’re just getting started.

Get Tom's Hardware's best news and in-depth reviews, straight to your inbox.

Follow