For most gamers and DIY enthusiasts, an unwelcome reality is approaching faster: Graphics cards, especially mid-to-high-end ones, are becoming increasingly expensive.

Multiple sources and industry warnings indicate that a supply chain storm triggered by the AI wave has formed. The price of the graphics card market will rise sharply in 2026, and "10,000-yuan graphics cards" may change from a high-end option to an "entry-level standard configuration".

Recently, rumors of price increases in the graphics card market have been confirmed by official channels for the first time.

A public relations representative from PowerColor, a core partner of AMD, recently issued a warning on the Reddit forum, straightforwardly advising potential buyers: "Wait until the Sunday discount takes effect and make your purchase before the last week of the year, because prices will rise after that.

You should know that manufacturers generally do not easily talk about price changes, and once they do, it is basically "a bad sign". Sure enough, it further clarified that the root cause of this price increase lies in the sharp surge in memory costs.

In fact, this is not groundless. According to industry sources, AMD, due to the significant increase in memory costs and prices, is planning to implement the second price increase for graphics cards. Although the specific time and extent have not been determined, it is expected to affect almost all models.

Meanwhile, Nvidia's next-generation plans may also be affected. The highly anticipated RTX 50 SUPER series, whose upgrade focus is on video memory, may see changes in its release schedule due to cost pressures. It is rumored that its release may be delayed until the third quarter of 2026, which further lengthens the current product cycle and exacerbates gamers' anxiety of waiting.

The underlying driver behind this round of graphics card price increases is the massive demand for high-bandwidth memory amid the global AI competition. To meet the needs of AI chips, major memory chip manufacturers such as Samsung and SK Hynix are shifting a large amount of their production capacity to the manufacture of high-margin HBM.

This directly led to a severe shortage in the supply of general-purpose DRAM (including video memory) and NAND flash memory used in traditional PCs, graphics cards, and mobile phones.

A "super cycle" in the storage industry has already begun. Data shows that since the beginning of September this year, the prices of memory products have been skyrocketing, with the price of DDR5 2Gx8 chips surging by an astonishing 307% in just two months!

Video memory has become one of the most expensive components in graphics cards, especially entry-level ones.

The sharp compression of costs has made graphics card manufacturersin mid-to-low-end productsalmost unprofitable, and they even face the awkward situation of "losing money on every unit sold".

To this end, supply chain sources indicate that NVIDIA and AMD are considering reducing or even completelydiscontinuing some low-margin mid-to-low-end product lines, and will allocate resourcesto focus on the high-end market.

This storm, which has been transmitted from the upstream, has exerted an impact that can be described as a "dimension-reducing strike" on the downstream consumer market. For graphics card brands, if they want to maintain profitability, the most direct strategy is to reduce the production ratio of mid-to-low-end graphics cards on the one hand, and to comprehensively raise the prices of products at all levels on the other hand.

This means that players with limited budgets will face extremely difficult choices in the future: either accept "entry-level" products with significantly higher prices, or be forced to turn their attention to higher-end models that are already expensive.

Industry supply chain insiders predict that if storage costs continue to rise at the current rate, the situation in the graphics card market in the future where "prices start at 5,000 yuan at every turn, and 10,000 yuan is just an appetizer" will no longer be a joke. The overall cost of building a gaming PC will be significantly pushed up.

The graphics card crisis is just one link in the chain reaction triggered by AI; the tight supply of storage has already affected the entire PC industry chain.

The CFO of Lenovo Group revealed that the company has increased its component inventory level by approximately 50% to cope with the shortage. Lenovo CEO Yang Yuanqing judged that the current shortage and price increase are not short-term phenomena and are likely to continue throughout 2026.

Asus and other manufacturers have also sent executive teams to negotiate directly with suppliers such as Samsung to secure more DRAM quotas.

Overall, the booming development of the AI industry and the competition for limited semiconductor production capacity in the traditional consumer electronics market are reshaping the landscape of the graphics card market with unprecedented intensity.

For players,Tul Corporation's warning is a clear signal: If you have a clear plan to upgrade your graphics card, the window before the end of 2025 may be the best time.

Entering 2026, the graphics card market is likely to usher in a new normal of "high-endization" and "ten-thousand-yuan pricing", and the cost of gaming is being redefined.