Graphics card prices are climbing as major board partners roll out higher factory wholesale rates. Reports from industry channel tracker ChannelGate reveal that Asus, Galax, and Gigabyte are increasing prices by up to 500 RMB (approx. $74 USD) on key models. A tight video memory market and factory capacity shifting toward AI hardware are behind the sudden price jump.
Silicon allocation is the root cause of the squeeze. Nvidia has cut total consumer graphics card shipments by 15% to 20% for the third quarter. Fabrication lines are prioritizing enterprise AI accelerators where profit margins are much higher. On top of that, tight video memory supplies are choking card production. The outcome is simple. Card makers have less inventory to sell, so wholesale prices are moving up.
Galax is imposing some of the largest price increases among board partners. Factory wholesale costs for the RTX 5080 jumped by 500 RMB (approx. $74 USD), while the RTX 5070 Ti climbed by 300 RMB (approx. $45 USD) and the standard RTX 5070 went up by 200 RMB (approx. $30 USD). Asus is taking a more focused route. The company increased net factory costs only on its RTX 5070 lineup, adding 150 to 300 RMB (approx. $22 to $45 USD) depending on the specific cooler design and trim.
Gigabyte is spreading price increases across both Nvidia and AMD lineups. For Nvidia hardware, the company only raised rates on the RTX 5060 Ti 16GB, bumping it up by 200 RMB (approx. $30 USD) while keeping other models steady. On the AMD side, the RX 9070 XT went up by 200 RMB (approx. $30 USD), the RX 9060 XT in 8GB and 16GB configs increased by 200 to 250 RMB (approx. $30 to $37 USD), and the RX 7650 GRE jumped by 400 RMB (approx. $60 USD). Gigabyte also introduced 2 new models to its portfolio, including fresh versions of the RTX 5060 and RTX 3050.
Store shelves will likely stay thin on stock for the rest of the quarter. Mainstream buyers will feel the pinch most on models like the RTX 5060 and RTX 5060 Ti 8GB. These 2 models account for 60% to 70% of total retail supply, but demand is still outpacing shipments. Flagship cards like the RTX 5080 will remain rare on shelves, and higher wholesale costs mean shoppers will soon see those price increases reflected directly at checkout.
