NVIDIA's B200 Chip Faces Supply Shortage Amid High Demand

NVIDIA's B200 chip continues to face a supply shortage, according to a recent report by Wedbush Securities following an in-depth examination of the Asian semiconductor supply chain. The report suggests that the demand for the B200 chip remains high, indicating potential growth opportunities in the coming quarters.

Analysts Matt Bryson and Antoine Legault noted that despite NVIDIA's efforts to ramp up production, the supply of its PCIe solutions based on the B200 chip remains constrained. The company appears to be prioritizing the delivery of the GB200 series, which could benefit various sectors, including model builders, NeoCloud, supercomputing centers, and sovereign data centers. These sectors require more network functionality and rely heavily on OEM manufacturers for production, aligning with the strong performance expectations for Dell's second quarter, Gigabyte's sales growth, and Wistron's May results.

The report also highlighted that the demand for non-AI-driven servers is increasing, although it remains uncertain whether this trend will persist until 2025. Additionally, AMD is expected to see a significant increase in its CPU socket market share by 2025, pending positive market feedback for its MI350 product.

In the hard disk market, Western Digital and Seagate Technology are poised to benefit from growing demand. Analysts pointed out that limited magnetic head production capacity and the lack of industry expansion plans could lead to a persistent shortage of hard disks in the coming quarters. This situation could provide manufacturers with opportunities to raise prices and improve profit margins. Currently, Western Digital's vertical magnetic recording (PMR) technology gives it a short-term advantage, but as Seagate shifts more of its production capacity to heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) technology, the firm maintains its prediction that Seagate will have a competitive edge by 2026.

The report also revealed that Asian fund managers were surprised by the recent strong performance of the U.S. stock market. Concerns were expressed about potential policy risks in the U.S., particularly the extension of reciprocal tariffs and possible restrictions on GPU exports to Malaysia and Thailand. These factors could exert pressure on the macroeconomic environment and the trajectory of the U.S. stock market. This industry report provides valuable insights for investors looking to understand the current supply and demand dynamics in the semiconductor and storage markets.