The rise of cryptocurrency trend has made high-end GPUs harder to get.
To mine cryptocurrencies, computer systems need high-end graphic cards. But with more and more people create systems dedicated to mine those digital currencies, this has led to a global shortage of GPUs. And with the lack of supply, the price of the hardware skyrocketed.
Those that are affected, include gamers, developers and most notably, researchers who plan to expand the search for alien life.
It was reported that Search For Extraterrestrial Life (SETI) researchers that wanted to build out their operations, can't find GPUs to buy.
The BBC noted that the team of researchers were hoping to expand their GPU capability at their telescope lab, and that they went to spend a National Science Foundation grant but realized their money wouldn’t go as far as planned because the cost of GPU hardware had doubled.
"We'd like to use the latest GPUs [graphics processing units]... and we can't get 'em," said SETI chief scientist Dan Werthimer. "This is a new problem, it's only happened on orders we've been trying to make in the last couple of months."
"We've got the money, we've contacted the vendors, and they say, 'we just don't have them'," Werthimer said.
In mid-2017, both Nvidia and AMD tried to solve the issue by announcing an array of graphic cards specifically designed for the cryptocurrency mining market. Samsung also followed the same step. But their attempts have not made things easier for people to buy high-end graphic cards.
