A $5,000 RTX 5090? New reports warn of steep GPU price hikes

As if things weren't bad enough already

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WTF?! Launched earlier this year at $1,999, the GeForce RTX 5090's price has skyrocketed in recent weeks, with most SKUs selling between $2,500 and $3,500 on Newegg, Best Buy, and Amazon. A new report paints an even grimmer picture for gamers, claiming the price could go up to as much as $5,000 in 2026 amid the ongoing memory shortage.

According to recent reports from China and South Korea, both AMD and Nvidia are expected to raise prices of their graphics cards in the first quarter of 2026. The initial report surfaced last week, when a user on the Chinese forum Board Channels claimed that AMD is notifying its GPU board partners of a price hike from January, with Nvidia expected to follow suit within weeks.

South Korean news outlet Newsis now claims to have confirmed the bad news. According to unnamed industry insiders quoted by the publication, Nvidia and AMD are planning to increase both consumer graphics cards and data center GPU prices in Q1 2026. Neither report mentions Intel by name, but Team Blue will also likely raise prices of its Arc graphics cards next year.

The reports suggest that the upcoming hikes are not being driven by the rising cost of GDDR7 memory, as contract prices were fixed well before the start of the current crisis. While some graphics card manufacturers increased their prices marginally in December, industry insiders believe a larger hike could follow in the coming weeks.

One manufacturer that has already begun notifying retail partners about a price adjustment is Asus. In its email earlier this week, the company cited AI-driven price volatility in DRAM, NAND, and SSD components as the primary reason for the impending adjustment, adding that upstream supplier capacity shifts and higher investment costs for advanced manufacturing are also responsible for the decision.

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The exact timeline for the price changes is unclear, but reports suggest AMD could announce it as early as next month, while Nvidia is planning to do so in February. The hikes will reportedly affect only the current-generation products – Radeon RX 9000 "RDNA 4" and RTX 50 "Blackwell," so older GPUs may remain relatively affordable for now.

The surging demand for high-bandwidth memory from AI data centers has pushed up DRAM prices to astronomical levels in recent months, with many industry observers warning that laptop and smartphone prices could see a significant hike in 2026. The situation has gotten so bad that some high-end server memory kits now cost more than luxury SUVs and sports cars.