Following NVIDIA, AMD is reportedly set to raise the price of its GPU and memory kits for its partners. This decision could quickly affect the retail prices of Radeon graphics cards.
According to several sources within the supply chain, AMD is preparing to raise the price of bundles containing Radeon GPUs and their GDDR memory by at least 10%. These “bundles,” sold to graphics card manufacturers such as ASUS, Gigabyte, MSI, and Sapphire, form the basis of the models sold to the general public. It is effectively impossible for these manufacturers to purchase the GPUs on their own. This constraint, however, generally allows them to secure more favorable prices on memory chips, since these are purchased in very large batches.
Prices for GDDR7 chips—as well as GDDR6—are reaching record highs. © Samsung
If this price hike is confirmed, it could take effect as early as the coming weeks and gradually affect the prices of new graphics cards available from retailers. This increase is primarily due to the soaring cost of graphics memory. The growing demand for components used in artificial intelligence accelerators is putting significant pressure on production capacity, driving up the cost of both the GDDR6 used by AMD and the GDDR7 used by NVIDIA. The production lines of the major GDDR manufacturers are increasingly prioritizing AI developers, resulting in a reduced supply in the graphics card market. The partners of both manufacturers have relatively limited profit margins, leaving little hope that these additional costs can be absorbed without passing them on to consumers.
For gamers, the prospect of falling graphics card prices thus seems to be slipping further out of reach. After several months of relative stability, the market could start trending upward again, driven by ever-rising production costs and sustained demand for memory. It remains to be seen to what extent manufacturers will pass this increase on to retail prices, but the current situation does little to suggest a return to cheaper GPUs: This remains to be confirmed, but since the very beginning of August, we have already seen—in France—a substantial increase in the price of Radeon cards across all manufacturers.
