The memory crisis has already forced several PC and laptop manufacturers to adjust their retail pricing since the beginning of the year. However, a new report from China Times suggests that major Taiwanese graphics card manufacturers will increase prices for AMD and Nvidia RTX 50 series cards.
According to the report, MSI has already announced the second round of price revisions for the Nvidia RTX 50 series, while Asus and Gigabyte could announce new pricing by the end of the month. Moreover, this could mark the “beginning of a price increase cycle for AMD and Nvidia graphics cards,” reads the report translated from Chinese (Traditional).
Expect to see GPU prices rise quietly
The price increase for DDR6 and DDR7 VRAM modules (used in graphics cards) has compelled AMD and Nvidia to raise their supply or wholesale prices by 10-15% (depending on the model).
Now, it is up to the partner manufacturer to decide whether they can absorb the higher cost or pass it along to customers through higher retail prices. Usually, retail partners like Asus, Gigabyte, and MSI don’t officially announce new MSRPs via press releases.
Instead, one has to spot price changes in retail listings, fewer base models, the abundance of premium SKUs (with higher price tags), or the silent delisting of older-priced inventory. The pattern becomes apparent once you start comparing the recent listing with those from a few weeks (or months) ago.
The report notes that the prices of the AMD RX 9000 series GPUs have increased by 10-18% in markets such as Europe and China. Similarly, the price revision ranges from 15 to 20% for Nvidia RTX 50 series models with 16GB of higher VRAM.
Nvidia has an interesting strategy for the situation. The company is reportedly prioritizing RTX 50-series cards (which make the most commercial sense), namely the 8GB VRAM models like the RTX 5060 and 5060 Ti. Why? Because they’re cheaper to make, easier to sell, and far less likely to attract a hefty price revision.
The higher-end variants, like the RTX 5080 and 5090, aren’t disappearing from the market, but you might start seeing them less often on shelves. They might still be available, but at a higher price. For now, the GPU manufacturing partners have acknowledged the pressure but have yet to devise a suitable strategy (or set new price tags for the popular models).