I'm not so sure. Companies were definitely buying many up, but they typically stick to business purchasing channels like CDW/Dell/HP etc.

Consumer boxed cards sold by retailers might have went to some small businesses/startups and independent developers but largely they were picked up by scalpers or gamers.

I work in IT and have never went to a store to buy a video card unless it was an emergency need to get a system functional again. It's vastly preferred to buy things through a VAR where warranties and support are much more robust than consumer channels.