AMD Releasing New Gaming Card Amid Chip Shortage — RX 6700 XT

Semiconductor company Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) that develops computer processors and related technologies for business and consumer markets announced that it’s releasing RX 6700 XT a new model of gaming card amid shortages that have plagued customers well before the holiday shopping season last year.

AMD introduced the Radeon RX 6700 XT graphics card for a suggested retail price of $479 and it is scheduled to be available on March 18. Gaming desktops from HP Inc. using the RX 6700 XT are expected out in the spring, AMD said.

“For most gamers still playing on three-to-four-year-old graphics cards, it is the perfect upgrade solution designed to deliver incredible visuals and no-compromises, high-refresh 1440p gaming performance at maximum settings,” said Scott Herkelman, AMD’s graphics business unit manager, in a statement.

From a price point, that would put the RX 6700 between Nvidia Corp.’s $399 RTX 3060 Ti card and its $499 RTX 3070 card, but high demand and short supply have made suggested retail prices fairly meaningless in recent months. Last month, Nvidia posted record-high revenue from its gaming-card sales, pushing its quarterly revenue past $5 billion for the first time.

Similarly, AMD topped $3 billion in quarterly revenue for the first time on strong gaming demand. Chip shortages, which have adversely affected other industries that rely on semiconductors, are expected to last throughout 2021 and possibly into the next year.

AMD in a statement said that it is “on track to have significantly more GPUs available for sale at launch,” and refreshing stock more frequently on its own website, where it will sell its chipsets at retail prices.

AMD shares are up 77% over the past 12 months, while the PHLX Semiconductor Index rose 79% over that period. Similarly, the S&P 500 index has risen 29%, and the Nasdaq Composite Index gained 52%.