Anyone can get GPUs right now and build out what they need; it’s just a matter of paying more for them than the next company. I’ve been looking at building a multi-TB HBM system lately and they’re readily available - they just cost $400k.
Housing, collectors items, access to the time of a top of the line doctor... all relatively scarce. And You'd be laughed out pf most rooms if you claimed those things aren't scarce.
What does "scarce" mean to you?
I'd wager that to most reasonable people it means "available in a supply that, measured against demand, is low". Market forces typically react to such a state by pushing prices up. Saying "they're not scarce, they're just expensive" is just silly.
The exception to this would be during e.g. supply chain hiccups (lots of compute sitting there, unable to get to its operational destination) or when other forces artificially push up prices. But that's not what we're seeing here. Compute is much scarcer than it's been for years.
As such, saying “GPUs are scarce” is an empty statement from a strictly economic perspective - so are all other physical goods. The correct economic phrasing would be “there is a shortage of GPUs” or “GPUs are in high demand”.
Of course, in colloquial English we interpret “GPUs are scarce” as meaning the same thing.
I'm just grateful that I don't need to upgrade my computer for a while, and cross my fingers that I don't have a hardware failure in the next couple of years. I had an unpleasant laptop failure in 2021 that I don't wish to repeat.