I bring bad news again on the price of GPUs and other PC gaming hardware in 2026. MSI explained that due to the ongoing DRAM shortage, some of its gaming products could increase by up to 30% this year.
March 13, as spotted The gamer and ooriginally reported by Taiwan United Daily NewsMSI Chief Executive Huang Jinqing told investors during an earnings conference call that he plans to raise gaming hardware prices by 15% to 30% over nine months.
These price increases are expected to primarily affect MSI’s lower-end and more affordable gaming hardware options, as the company cuts production of these cheaper components. Instead, MSI plans to redistribute these resources to mid-range and high-end GPUs and hardware. Huang told investors that customers were already showing willingness to pay more. The plan is to charge more and sell less to compensate for fewer products produced and shipped in 2026.
Jinqing blamed the rising price due to continued DRAM shortages, AI hyperscalers buying up all available memory, and a low supply of Nvidia GPU components. These are the same issues that lead other hardware makers to raise prices or delay releases, like Valve, XboxAnd Intel.
“This year is the most difficult year since the company was founded,” Huang told investors during the earnings conference call, as reported by United Daily News.
Blaming AI tech giants for high prices According to MSI’s general manager, a 16 GB module cost $40 last year. Now it costs $170 or more. Huang told investors that MSI held about two months of memory inventory and was working to secure multi-year contracts with other hardware makers to avoid having to pay high prices to meet future demand. MSI currently projects that due to supply issues, the PC market will contract by 10-20%.
This isn’t going to help the already terrible (and getting worse) RAM-aggedon.which has seen PC and tech hardware prices continue to rise week after week as companies like Nvidia and Micron increasingly focus on supplying companies like Microsoft, Meta, and Google who are all racing to build AI data centers across the country using many of the parts needed to make advanced gaming GPUs and RAM.
Even MSI isn’t ignoring the AI market, with Huang telling investors that MSI is investing another $20 billion NTD (around $625,786,200) into building a new AI server.
