The Hot Take: Again, Nvidia doing anti-competitive practices?
Nvidiaās graphics card prices are reportedly jumping again as memory costs rise and retailers start clearing shelves in panic.
With Samsung reportedly raising DRAM prices by about 20 per cent for the current quarter, Nvidia appears to have decided customers can pay. The result is another price rise for consumer graphics cards, the third such inflationary episode this year, according to the reports.
This one has reportedly emptied store shelves as distributors shift into full panic mode.
Unlike Nvidiaās May price rise, the latest bout appears to cover far more consumer graphics card models.
According to Taiwanās Economic Daily, Nvidia has increased prices on consumer-facing graphics cards by between 20 per cent and 30 per cent. That follows a price rise of between 10 per cent and 15 per cent in January 2026.
The May increase was aimed mainly at high-end cards such as the GeForce RTX 5090 series. The latest hike, therefore, looks like Nvidiaās third attempt to test how much pain gamers and system builders can absorb this year.
BenchLife claims Nvidiaās price notices to downstream supply chain partners now cover entire GPU bundles. That means the GPU itself and the GDDR memory are being lumped together on the same grim little invoice.
The notices, helped along by runaway rumours, have reportedly triggered a proper panic among retail channel distributors.
One major Chinese e-commerce platform went so far as to remove many mainstream Nvidia graphics cards from sale last week. Retailers that have already adjusted prices are showing a chunky difference.
The 16GB GDDR7 Nvidia RTX 5070 Ti is now selling for 10,700 yuan (ā¬1,389, $1,581), up from 9,299 yuan (ā¬1,207, $1,374) last week.
In November 2025, the same card was selling for 7,200 yuan (ā¬934, $1,064). The price rises are producing some daft results in the GDDR market as well.
Standard 2GB GDDR7 video memory now sells for $20, while a 3GB chip costs between $60 and $70. That means the 3GB GDDR7 part offers just 50 per cent more video memory but costs more than three times as much.
Ā
Read the full article
The Hot Take: Is Nvidia pricing out AIB manufacturers to take the whole pie of selling their GPUs?
The ongoing component crisis has forced manufacturers to raise product prices around the world, which includes the best GPUs. MSI and PNY have just announced new prices for all RTX 50-series graphics cards for China, representing up to a 59% hike compared to MSRP. While Nvidia GPUs have been the most affected, offerings from Intel and AMD are also experiencing a similar predicament, according to Wccftech. MSI's price list actually shows the old prices (from a week ago) as well as the new ones, giving us an official percentage difference of 10-20%. Keep in mind the old prices still weren't at MSRP. The RTX 5080 Shadow 3X OC/Ventus sees the biggest change, going from 10,000 Yuan ($1,477) to 12,000 Yuan ($1,773), constituting a 20% hike. Other RTX 5080 variants received a pretty similar 18% hike, while the RTX 5070 Ti Shadow 3X OC now costs 19.5% more. Product NameOriginal PriceUpdated PriceOfficial MSRPvs. Originalvs. Base MSRPGeForce RTX 5090 D v2 24G VENTUS 3X OCĀ„22,999Ā„25,999Ā„16,499+13.04%+57.58%GeForce RTX 5080 16G GAMING TRIO OC WHITEĀ„10,999Ā„12,999Ā„8,299+18.18%+56.63%GeForce RTX 5080 16G GAMING TRIO OCĀ„10,999Ā„12,999Ā„8,299+18.18%+56.63%GeForce RTX 5080 16G SHADOW 3X OC/VENTUSĀ„9,999Ā„11,999Ā„8,299+20.00%+44.58%GeForce RTX 5070 Ti 16G GAMING TRIO OCĀ„8,199Ā„9,699Ā„5,499+18.29%+76.38%GeForce RTX 5070 Ti 16G SHADOW 3X OCĀ„7,699Ā„9,199Ā„5,499+19.48%+67.28%GeForce RTX 5070 12G GAMING TRIO OCĀ„5,899Ā„6,399Ā„4,499+8.48%+42.23%GeForce RTX 5070 12G VENTUS 3X OCĀ„5,499Ā„5,999Ā„4,499+9.09%+33.34%GeForce RTX 5070 12G SHADOW 3X OCĀ„5,499Ā„5,999Ā„4,499+9.09%+33.34%GeForce RTX 5070 12G SHADOW 2X OCĀ„5,299Ā„5,799Ā„4,499+9.44%+28.90%GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16G GAMING TRIO OCĀ„4,599Ā„4,999Ā„3,199+8.70%+56.27%GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16G SHADOW 2X OC PLUSĀ„4,299Ā„4,699Ā„3,199+9.30%+46.89%GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 8G SHADOW 2X OC PLUSĀ„3,099Ā„3,399Ā„2,799+9.68%+21.44%GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 8G GAMING TRIO OC WHITEĀ„3,399Ā„3,699Ā„2,799+8.83%+32.15%GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 8G GAMING TRIO OCĀ„3,399Ā„3,699Ā„2,799+8.83%+32.15%GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 8G INSPIRE 2X OCĀ„3,199Ā„3,499Ā„2,799+9.38%+25.01%GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 8G VENTUS 3X OCĀ„3,299Ā„3,599Ā„2,799+9.09%+28.58%GeForce RTX 5060 8G GAMING TRIO OC WHITEĀ„2,799Ā„3,199Ā„2,199+14.29%+45.48%GeForce RTX 5060 8G GAMING TRIO OCĀ„2,799Ā„3,199Ā„2,199+14.29%+45.48%GeForce RTX 5060 8G GAMING OC V1Ā„2,699Ā„3,099Ā„2,199+14.82%+40.93%GeForce RTX 5060 8G SHADOW 2X OCĀ„2,599Ā„2,999Ā„2,199+15.39%+36.38%GeForce RTX 5050 8G GAMING OCĀ„2,599Ā„2,999Ā„1,899+15.39%+57.93%GeForce RTX 3050 VENTUS 2X E 6G OCĀ„1,649Ā„1,899Ā„1,399+15.16%+35.74%The highest-end Blackwell GPU available in China, the RTX 5090 D V2 is a cut-down version of the RTX 5090, featuring 24GB of VRAM instead of 32GB. MSI raised its price by 13%, which is less than every RTX 5060 and RTX 5050 variant ā those were around 14-15%. The RTX 5060 Ti (8GB and 16GB) and RTX 5070 both received price hikes under 10% compared to their old prices. If you put these numbers up against these GPUs' MSRPs then the picture becomes a lot grimmer. The RTX 5070 Ti Gaming Trio OC is now priced 76% above MSRP, while its cheaper Shadow 3X OC variant is still 67% more expensive than the suggested retail price. The prices for the RTX 5090 D V2 are 57.5% higher, the RTX 5080 and 5060 Ti up to 56% higher, the RTX 5060 up to 45% higher, and the RTX 5070 up to 42% higher. Moving onto Colorful's list, the company doesn't provide old prices to compare against, so we can only reference them against the MSRPs. The top-end offering, the RTX 5080 Vulcan W OC is now priced 59% above MSRP, while the 5070 Ti Vulcan W OC is 58.5% higher. The RTX 5070 and 5060 Ti 16GB models were largely under the 50% threshold, while price hikes for the RTX 5060 Ti 8GB and RTX 5060 variants were under 30% compared to MSRP. GPU ModelNew PriceOriginal PriceDifference% vs MSRPRTX 5080 Vulcan W OC 16GĀ„13,199Ā„8,299+Ā„4,900+59.0%RTX 5080 Vulcan OC 16GBĀ„12,299Ā„8,299+Ā„4,000+48.2%RTX 5080 Advanced OC 16GĀ„11,799Ā„8,299+Ā„3,500+42.2%RTX 5080 Ultra W OC 16GĀ„10,499Ā„8,299+Ā„2,200+26.5%RTX 5070 Ti Vulcan W OC 16GĀ„9,999Ā„6,299+Ā„3,700+58.7%RTX 5070 Ti Advanced OC 16GĀ„9,299Ā„6,299+Ā„3,000+47.6%RTX 5070 Ti Ultra W OC SFF 16GĀ„8,899Ā„6,299+Ā„2,600+41.3%RTX 5070 Ti Ultra OC SFF 16GĀ„8,799Ā„6,299+Ā„2,500+39.7%RTX 5070 Ti Deluxe SFF 16GĀ„8,699Ā„6,299+Ā„2,400+38.1%RTX 5070 Vulcan X OC 12GĀ„7,199Ā„4,599+Ā„2,600+56.6%RTX 5070 Ultra OC 12GĀ„6,799Ā„4,599+Ā„2,200+47.9%RTX 5070 Deluxe 12GĀ„6,399Ā„4,599+Ā„1,800+39.2%RTX 5060 Ti Ultra W OC 16GĀ„5,299Ā„3,599+Ā„1,700+47.3%RTX 5060 Ti Ultra Z OC 16GĀ„5,249Ā„3,599+Ā„1,650+46.0%RTX 5060 Ti Ultra OC 16GĀ„5,249Ā„3,599+Ā„1,650+46.0%RTX 5060 Ti Deluxe 16GĀ„5,199Ā„3,599+Ā„1,600+44.6%RTX 5060 Ti Ultra W DUO OC 16GĀ„5,099Ā„3,599+Ā„1,500+41.8%RTX 5060 Ti Ultra DUO OC 16GĀ„5,099Ā„3,599+Ā„1,500+41.8%RTX 5060 Ti Advanced OC 8GĀ„3,949Ā„3,199+Ā„750+23.5%RTX 5060 Ti Ultra W OC 8GĀ„3,949Ā„3,199+Ā„750+23.5%RTX 5060 Ti Ultra OC 8GĀ„3,849Ā„3,199+Ā„650+20.3%RTX 5060 Ti Deluxe 8GĀ„3,699Ā„3,199+Ā„500+15.7%RTX 5060 Ti DUO 8GĀ„3,549Ā„3,199+Ā„350+11.0%RTX 5060 Advanced OC 8GĀ„3,199Ā„2,499+Ā„700+27.9%RTX 5060 Ultra W OC 8GĀ„3,149Ā„2,499+Ā„650+26.0%RTX 5060 Ultra DUO OC 8GĀ„3,049Ā„2,499+Ā„550+22.0%RTX 5060 Deluxe 8GĀ„3,049Ā„2,499+Ā„550+22.0%RTX 5060 DUO 8GĀ„2,949Ā„2,499+Ā„450+17.9%RTX 5050 DUO 8GĀ„2,449Ā„2,099+Ā„350+16.8%Both of these lists came directly from the distributors but marketplaces online show that AMD and Intel GPUs are also more expensive now, as well. AMD's cards are selling for 14% to 29% higher prices, and Blue Team's cards are seeing $200 to almost $300 bumps, according to Wccftech. The RX 9060 XT 16GB is the worst offender among the two lineups, being hiked up by 28.8% compared to its MSRP. All of this is happening because VRAM prices have skyrocketed over the past year, with reports highlighting a $20 price increase per module. That means an 8GB card, with taxes included, should cost almost $100 more now, a 12GB card about $130 more, and a 16GB card roughly $180 more, and that's just accounting for VRAM price changes. With prices going up, there's an additional element of supply and demand that is pushing prices higher. There are no signs of the component crisis slowing down; in fact, we only see more fearmongering from major companies, persuading them to buy whatever they want now instead of waiting for some miracle market crash. With the way things are looking right now, prices don't seem to be coming down anytime soon, that much is clear.
Read the full article
The Hot Take: ASML needs competition, but I wasn't saying from China. LOL
According to The Information (paywalled), a state-backed Shanghai company has begun mass-producing China's first homegrown immersion DUV lithography machines, with about five units expected this year for SMIC, Hua Hong, and CXMT. Roughly 20 more units are expected in 2027. Tom's Hardware reports: The Information didn't name the manufacturer, but its sources described the operation as having pulled DUV development teams from several Chinese companies, one of them the state-backed startup Shanghai Yuliangsheng Technology. SMIC has been testing a Yuliangsheng immersion tool since September 2025. Most components in the new systems are domestic, though some critical parts still come from Japan, and delays at local suppliers have held back output this year.
[...] China accounts for around 20% of ASML's net sales this year, down from 33% in 2025, driven mainly by mainstream logic demand... Independent analysis from the AI Futures Project in June put commercial-scale Chinese immersion DUV in the mid-2030s, with ASML holding 98.7% of the immersion market. Qualifying the new machines for production lines could take many months, and they trail ASML's tools on performance and build quality. China's domestic EUV effort, which Reuters first reported as a working prototype in December, remains years away.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Read the full article