David McAfee, AMD Vice President and General Manager over Client Channel Business, called the demand for AMD's newest GPU release "really unprecedented" this week. In an appearance on HotHardware's Thursday livestream, McAfee shared some details about what caused RX 9070 and RX 9070 XTs to sell out worldwide at blistering speed, and AMD's plans to get the cards into the hands of customers now and in the far future.
McAfee, who oversees much of AMD's consumer CPU and GPU businesses, was amazed by the success of the RX 9000-series' first wave. "The launch of RDNA 4 was really a milestone event for our graphics business. The demand was very, very, very strong all around the world," said the Radeon boss.
The AMD RX 9070 XT and RX 9070 hit the shelves on March 6th, heralding the beginning of AMD's "RDNA 4" GPU generation. Though the cards launched with a $599/$549 price tag, one week later it is near impossible to find the cards for this price, as all models of the cards across all of AMD's board partners are either sold out or being sold for as much as 22% over the MSRP from legitimate retailers.
McAfee explained in part why selling GPUs for appropriate prices and with ample stock can be a challenging game. "In [AMD's CPU business], we put a processor in a box, we set a price for that product, we ship it directly into the market, and we control that end-to-end."
In stark contrast to this, AMD's supply chain for selling GPUs involves a large number of AIB partners, which buy AMD's ASICs and build multiple models of each GPU, which models are then selected and ordered from by primary sellers.
"If you look at where we stand today, priority number one is restocking all of our partners," confirmed McAfee, then reiterating the lengthy process which stands between AMD shipping supply to partners and finished products hitting shelves. AMD is said to be intensely focusing on pushing Navi 48 into the hands of board partners/
McAfee and AMD affirm that when supply returns for RX 9070 XT, it will be accessible at the starting price point of $599. This echoes Frank Azor's pre-launch promise that RDNA 4's MSRP is not just launch-only pricing, but will persist throughout the lifespan of the cards.
This claim may fall on consumers' deaf ears, however; for the last several GPU generations, especially from Nvidia cards, GPU prices skyrocket immediately after launch and then never recovered. Nvidia RTX 4090 prices never settled back at or below MSRP for its entire lifespan, with the card now costing upwards of $3,000 even with the existence of the RTX 5090.
McAfee remains optimistic about RX 9070 XT's price settling down soon, however, and about the current state of AMD's consumer offerings. "As we refill the channel from what happened last week, you'll see more supply coming," claimed the Radeon boss. "Not just at the opening price points, but across the entire range as we look at the rest of this quarter, Q2, and beyond."
Ever since the launch of the Ryzen 9 9800X3D, AMD internally has apparently been riding hit after hit with pride. McAfee boldly proclaimed, "We think we've got the most compelling portfolio in the industry right now across the entire range", including notebooks, laptops, high-end desktops, enterprise use, and everything in between.
For those anxious to see AMD make a return to halo-tier top-end GPUs, more patience will be necessary. Per McAfee, the vast majority of consumers buy GPUs at sub-$700 price points. For AMD right now, building up broad appeal and brainspace is far more important.
"We have aspirations to cover the entire gamut of gaming solutions that are out there in the market, and maybe one day we'll get there. But for now, we're really focused on growing scale and deriving the developer relationships that come from having a bigger footprint in the graphics market."
With AMD snatching GPU market share away from Nvidia even in Q4 2024, and the launch of the Ryzen 9 9950X3D securely claiming AMD's top dog status for CPUs for any consumer use-case, the future is bright for AMD (thanks in no small part to the struggles of its competitors). What comes next? Hopefully affordable RX 9070 XTs.
