Written by Somya Gupta
A Graphics Processing Unit, or GPU, is the main component of a gaming computer. Without it, a computer is unable to render graphics or play graphically demanding games. Though people may believe GPUs can be found in abundance, they are falsely illusioned. Nowadays, gamers are unable to find GPUs at decent prices because of an ongoing shortage caused by 3 factors: tariffs from China, scalpers, and bitcoin’s soaring prices.
When Donald Trump took office in the year of 2016, among his many controversial decisions, he increased tariffs on goods from China to help businessmen flourish in the US. This caused GPUs coming from China to suffer long periods of waiting time and heavy tax inflation before entering the US, discouraging China from shipping GPUs to the U.S, which heavily contributed to the GPU shortage. However, a few units were able to make it past the policy. These would have been plentiful for all the people in the U.S. Unfortunately, some people saw this as an opportunity to exploit the market and set up complex algorithms to get GPUs as soon as they were available in the market, creating an artificial shortage.
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