Rising Raw Material Costs to Drive Up PC Component Prices
Roman der8auer Hartung who works as both overclocker and Thermal Grizzly CEO predicts that PC component prices will experience an upward trend. The main cause of this development occurs because essential raw material prices have developed a pattern of rapid increases which particularly applies to copper and tin. These metals serve as the basic materials which modern computer hardware manufacturers use to produce their products.
The tech industry requires copper as its essential material which manufacturers use to create heatsinks and water blocks and power supplies and the conductive layers of printed circuit boards PCBs. Der8auer reports that copper prices have experienced a 50% price increase during the last few months. The primary data presently available includes the following elements
- Standard Copper Sheets Production costs for sheets used in cooling systems have jumped from €190 to €280.
- Global Market A ton of copper has increased from $9,000 to over $13,000 within a single year.
The price increase affects all internal PC hardware because microchip connections and connector contacts and motherboards contain copper as an essential element.
The electronics market is also facing pressure from the tin sector. Tin prices have increased by roughly 80% over the last year. This metal is indispensable for electronic assembly, as it is a primary component in solder and capacitors. The absence of cost effective tin leads to increased expenses for video card and motherboard and other advanced electronics assembly.
Market changes have already begun to affect manufacturing companies. Thermal Grizzly plans to increase water block prices by approximately 10% because material costs have risen. Experts believe that manufacturers will increase production costs because these first modifications only represent initial changes.
For those planning a new PC build, these reports suggest that current inventory may represent the lowest pricing available before the next wave of industry wide increases takes effect.
