Are GPU Prices Really Going Up Soon?
Published: 1-28-2026
Image Credit: AI Image Generation
It’s now a fact that computer components are going up dramatically in price, and as old stock is depleted the full effect of these price increases are becoming clear.
It’s not a pretty picture, but there’s also a lot of unverified FUD (Fear Uncertainty and Doubt) being spread, mixed in with the truth of the situation. To give you a good overview of what might be coming.
To be clear, neither NVIDIA nor AMD has officially announced a global MSRP increase.
However, multiple hardware industry sources are reporting that board partners and manufacturers are preparing for higher costs, and those increases often make their way to retail prices sooner rather than later.
Memory Costs Are The Biggest Pressure Point
We are expecting GPUs to become more expensive. That’s not the controversial part at all. Global RAM shortages will affect GPUs, because they also use RAM to work. The main pressure has been on DDR5 and not the GDDR modules that GPUs use, but GPUs themselves are sought after for AI use as well, so either way there will be supply constraints.
We expect that GPU makers will tend to favor selling GPUs to data centers where the profit margins are fatter and sales are guaranteed for the foreseeable future. As opposed to selling to small OEMs or individual customers.
AMD, which isn’t enjoying high AI demand for its GPUs to the same extent as NVIDIA, has publicly committed to supporting regular customers in the light of a 10% price increase that’s already shown its face with AMDs GPUs.
Board Partners May Raise Prices Before Official MSRPs Change
Another important detail is where price increases may show up first. Reports from outlets like Notebook Check suggest that GPU board partners such as ASUS, Gigabyte, and MSI are considering price increases of up to 10–15% on certain models.
We’ve seen rumors that the chip and memory kits these board partners receive might have gone up in price, or that they no longer come bundled with VRAM, meaning the board partner has to source memory itself and price its cards accordingly.
Either way, board partners don’t have to wait for new MSRP directives from AMD or NVIDIA, they can price things according to their cost.
A Phased Increase Is More Likely Than A Sudden Jump
We don’t think that a single large price hike across the board is the most likely thing to happen, and analysts agree. It’s more likely that we’ll see a price-anchoring strategy where price increases happen in phases.
This is similar to how Microsoft and Sony raised the price of their gaming consoles in increments. So that each price increase isn’t enough to really upset customers. It’s slow enough that the proverbial frog doesn’t know it’s boiling.
What This Means For You
The way forward is pretty simple, even if the rumor mill around GPU shortages and price increases is complicated and convoluted.
The bottom line is that GPU prices are almost certain to keep going up, and even when supply tissues are resolved in a few years, that won’t mean prices will come down much either. That’s without accounting for inflation.
So no matter what, now is the best time to buy the GPUs you know you’ll need. Every day you wait is likely to make the cost and difficulty of acquiring them higher and harder.
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