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 OC„22,999„25,999„16,499+13.04%+57.58%GeForce RTX 5080 16G GAMING TRIO OC WHITE„10,999„12,999„8,299+18.18%+56.63%GeForce RTX 5080 16G GAMING TRIO OC„10,999„12,999„8,299+18.18%+56.63%GeForce RTX 5080 16G SHADOW 3X OC/VENTUS„9,999„11,999„8,299+20.00%+44.58%GeForce RTX 5070 Ti 16G GAMING TRIO OC„8,199„9,699„5,499+18.29%+76.38%GeForce RTX 5070 Ti 16G SHADOW 3X OC„7,699„9,199„5,499+19.48%+67.28%GeForce RTX 5070 12G GAMING TRIO OC„5,899„6,399„4,499+8.48%+42.23%GeForce RTX 5070 12G VENTUS 3X OC„5,499„5,999„4,499+9.09%+33.34%GeForce RTX 5070 12G SHADOW 3X OC„5,499„5,999„4,499+9.09%+33.34%GeForce RTX 5070 12G SHADOW 2X OC„5,299„5,799„4,499+9.44%+28.90%GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16G GAMING TRIO OC„4,599„4,999„3,199+8.70%+56.27%GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16G SHADOW 2X OC PLUS„4,299„4,699„3,199+9.30%+46.89%GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 8G SHADOW 2X OC PLUS„3,099„3,399„2,799+9.68%+21.44%GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 8G GAMING TRIO OC WHITE„3,399„3,699„2,799+8.83%+32.15%GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 8G GAMING TRIO OC„3,399„3,699„2,799+8.83%+32.15%GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 8G INSPIRE 2X OC„3,199„3,499„2,799+9.38%+25.01%GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 8G VENTUS 3X OC„3,299„3,599„2,799+9.09%+28.58%GeForce RTX 5060 8G GAMING TRIO OC WHITE„2,799„3,199„2,199+14.29%+45.48%GeForce RTX 5060 8G GAMING TRIO OC„2,799„3,199„2,199+14.29%+45.48%GeForce RTX 5060 8G GAMING OC V1„2,699„3,099„2,199+14.82%+40.93%GeForce RTX 5060 8G SHADOW 2X OC„2,599„2,999„2,199+15.39%+36.38%GeForce RTX 5050 8G GAMING OC„2,599„2,999„1,899+15.39%+57.93%GeForce RTX 3050 VENTUS 2X E 6G OC„1,649„1,899„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 â 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 16G„13,199„8,299+„4,900+59.0%RTX 5080 Vulcan OC 16GB„12,299„8,299+„4,000+48.2%RTX 5080 Advanced OC 16G„11,799„8,299+„3,500+42.2%RTX 5080 Ultra W OC 16G„10,499„8,299+„2,200+26.5%RTX 5070 Ti Vulcan W OC 16G„9,999„6,299+„3,700+58.7%RTX 5070 Ti Advanced OC 16G„9,299„6,299+„3,000+47.6%RTX 5070 Ti Ultra W OC SFF 16G„8,899„6,299+„2,600+41.3%RTX 5070 Ti Ultra OC SFF 16G„8,799„6,299+„2,500+39.7%RTX 5070 Ti Deluxe SFF 16G„8,699„6,299+„2,400+38.1%RTX 5070 Vulcan X OC 12G„7,199„4,599+„2,600+56.6%RTX 5070 Ultra OC 12G„6,799„4,599+„2,200+47.9%RTX 5070 Deluxe 12G„6,399„4,599+„1,800+39.2%RTX 5060 Ti Ultra W OC 16G„5,299„3,599+„1,700+47.3%RTX 5060 Ti Ultra Z OC 16G„5,249„3,599+„1,650+46.0%RTX 5060 Ti Ultra OC 16G„5,249„3,599+„1,650+46.0%RTX 5060 Ti Deluxe 16G„5,199„3,599+„1,600+44.6%RTX 5060 Ti Ultra W DUO OC 16G„5,099„3,599+„1,500+41.8%RTX 5060 Ti Ultra DUO OC 16G„5,099„3,599+„1,500+41.8%RTX 5060 Ti Advanced OC 8G„3,949„3,199+„750+23.5%RTX 5060 Ti Ultra W OC 8G„3,949„3,199+„750+23.5%RTX 5060 Ti Ultra OC 8G„3,849„3,199+„650+20.3%RTX 5060 Ti Deluxe 8G„3,699„3,199+„500+15.7%RTX 5060 Ti DUO 8G„3,549„3,199+„350+11.0%RTX 5060 Advanced OC 8G„3,199„2,499+„700+27.9%RTX 5060 Ultra W OC 8G„3,149„2,499+„650+26.0%RTX 5060 Ultra DUO OC 8G„3,049„2,499+„550+22.0%RTX 5060 Deluxe 8G„3,049„2,499+„550+22.0%RTX 5060 DUO 8G„2,949„2,499+„450+17.9%RTX 5050 DUO 8G„2,449„2,099+„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.
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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.
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The Hot Take: Trying to kill a dinosaur client.
New Outlook is âpainful and drives me crazy,â one user told me as their organization prepared to ditch Outlook Classic. But does that mean Microsoft will hold off on its plans to force New Outlook? Certainly not. According to Microsoftâs roadmap, it still plans to move all Classic Outlook users to New Outlook starting in March 2027, and weâre not that far away now.
New Outlook for Windows has been around for almost three years, as it was first rolled out to testers in 2023. Fast-forward to 2024, and Microsoft released New Outlook for everyone, and it eventually replaced the native Mail & Calendar apps. While Mail and Calendar were not exceptionally good, they still worked better than New Outlook in several areas.
Outlook (New) is getting better, but itâs not the best app for everyone
Weâre nearly six months away from 2027, and thereâs no denying that New Outlook has gotten significantly better. Microsoft has added up to 15 features in the past several weeks, but most of them are not exactly new. They have already been available in Outlook Classic, and Microsoft is simply catching up.
For example, Microsoft has added support for .PST files and improved offline support to cover attachments. Outlook Classic has always supported .PST files, and since it wasnât a web app, the lack of offline support was never an issue.
Some of the other improvements include the ability to pin or snooze an email, which is quite handy, but itâs again something you could do in Outlook Classic.
More recently, Microsoft rolled out the ability to add multiple categories and create automatic actions to keep your inbox organized or clean. For example, you can set up rules to automatically purge promotional emails and keep only recent messages in your inbox.
Microsoft has also added Schedule Send, which was always available in Outlook Classic.
At the same time, New Outlook is still missing several useful features that have been available in Outlook Classic for years. Microsoft insists itâll bring everything back in the coming months, but the clock is ticking.
Youâll be forced to use New Outlook in March 2027
According to Microsoftâs roadmap seen by Windows Latest, the company is fully committed to moving Outlook Classic users to the new version starting in March 2027, so enterprises have less than a year to prepare for the forced rollout.
âThe opt-out phase for Enterprise environments will now begin in March 2027 (previously April 2026), providing organizations with 12 months of lead time to prepare,â Microsoft noted in an update earlier this year. âGCC High and DoD timelines will be communicated separately at a later date.â
What happens in March 2027 if you choose to keep using Outlook Classic?
All hell is not going to break loose, but you may find yourself automatically redirected to New Outlook when you open Outlook Classic.
Fortunately, youâll still be able to switch back to Outlook Classic. However, donât be surprised if it later reverts and you find yourself back in New Outlook again.
Weâve seen Microsoft use a similar approach before. When it began replacing Mail & Calendar with New Outlook, it allowed users to opt out and return to the older apps, only for some of them to be moved back to New Outlook later.
I am expecting a similar pop-up when Outlook Classic hits the deadline in March 2027, but remember that it does not mean you will be blocked from using the original email client.
In another document, Microsoft has clarified that itâll support Outlook Classic until at least 2029, as long as itâs already installed and you have either a perpetual or a subscription license. Of course, you canât expect new features after March 2027. In fact, Outlook Classic has mostly stopped adding new features except a few Copilot and agentic additions.
Microsoft says itâs seeing âstrong adoption of new Outlookâ
At this point, one thing is clear that thereâs no going back for Microsoft, and New Outlook will eventually become the default experience whether you like it or not. The company also argues that New Outlook is now being adopted by more users, and adoption growth is not just strong, but rapidly âaccelerating.â
That may be true because enterprises also need to embrace Copilot, which works more extensively in New Outlook than in Outlook Classic.
âWe continue to invest heavily in expanding capabilities and addressing feedback from customers who want to go further with new Outlook. To ensure organizations have the time they need to prepareâand to fully realize the value of ongoing innovationâweâre extending the opt-out timeline,â Microsoft previously said.
The post Microsoft still wants to force New Outlook on everyone by 2027, even as users call it painful, and prefer Outlook Classic appeared first on Windows Latest
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The Hot Take: I don't think so much ARM as AMD.
Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan has acknowledged that the semiconductor giant must catch up to rivals AMD and Arm, and said it now assumes edge AI and robotics will be a business as big as PCs. Tan made those remarks during Intelâs Q2 earnings call, which saw the company report $16.1 billion revenue â a 25 percent year-on-year increase. âQ2 was another quarter of solid execution,â the CEO said. âRevenue, gross margin, and earnings per share were above our guidance. This marks the seventh consecutive quarter of exceeding our financial expectations.â Yet it didnât deliver a profit as Intel reported a GAAP loss of $11 billion (and a non-GAAP loss of $2.2 billion). Tan remained optimistic about Intelâs prospects, thanks to the AI boom spurring demand for many of its products, and its foundry service. âOur core server CPU franchise is growing faster than ever,â the CEO said, before observing the Xeon 6 range âcontinues to be one of the fastest-ramping products in Intel's history.â That may be the case, but Intelâs hyperscale customers have designed their own Arm-powered CPUs and are deploying so many that analyst firm IDC recently found non-x86 servers now account for almost half of all sales. Intelâs great rival, AMD, has grown its market share to a third of the x86 server market. During the earnings call, Morgan Stanley analyst Joe Moore asked Tan how he plans to regain market share. Tan pointed to Intelâs forthcoming Clearwater Forest, Diamond Rapids, and Coral Rapids processors as evidence the company is creating products that can compete with anyone. âSome areas we are still behind,â he admitted, âbut we are catching up very fast and we try to leapfrog some of the CPU architecture, and we are putting major effort into it. Time will tell.â Tan is also pondering time in terms of how component shortages impact the companyâs sales and revenue. âThe industry is facing one of the most severe supply constraints in its history, across leading-edge logic silicon wafers, memory, and substrates,â he said. âThese shortages will persist for the foreseeable future.â Intel is of course a big player in the semiconductor supply chain, and Tan offered the happy news that wafer output across its major manufacturing nodes exceeded expectations from 90 days ago, and that yields from its leading-edge 18A process âare trending ahead of targets.â The CEO also said, âsupply remains very tight and the near-term linearity of our supply growth is more skewed towards the end of Q3 and into Q4, especially for servers.â He had slightly better news about Intelâs foundry business, which is developing an advanced manufacturing process called 14A that could make Chipzilla a more formidable competitor to TSMC. âWe remain on track for 14A risk production for our internal products in the second half of 2027, and we made the decision in Q2 to fully commit to high volume ramp in 2028,â Tan said. Intelâs current flagship 18A process is also going well. âIn our core PC client segment, Intel 18A is now in volume production across multiple commercial and consumer products,â Tan said. âOur factory output continues to increase sequentially every month. The successful high volume ramp of 18A for our internal products provides important validations as Intel Foundry engages with external customers.â The CEO added his view that âWe still have work to do to establish a strong footprint in the edge and physical AI ecosystem but see this opportunity as an important future growth driver.â So important that Intel recently renamed its PC business the âClient Computing and Physical AI Groupâ (CCPG). That change is more than cosmetic, because CFO David Zinsner said Intel believes âthe edge and physical AI opportunity is likely to at least match the client TAM [total addressable market] over time.â That would make edge and physical AI an $8 billion business, given that in this quarter Intel said ten percent of CCPGâs $8.9 billion revenue came from edge products. Overall CCPG revenue rose 13 percent year-over-year, growth that Intel found pleasantly surprising. Zinsner said the PC market is âsofterâ in part due to âthe memory dynamics in the marketplace,â and predicted Q3 performance will fall. Âź
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