Nvidia is reportedly preparing another increase to graphics card prices — and this time the jump could be steep.
According to Gamereactor UK, it would be the company's third price hike of the year, with costs set to rise by as much as 30%. A report from Diario AS says Taiwan has warned that Nvidia GPU prices will climb "about 20% to 30%" very soon.
The reason, according to Digital Trends, is artificial intelligence. A summary of the story published via MSN points to rising DRAM costs and AI data center demand straining component supplies — in other words, the memory chips and manufacturing capacity that go into a gaming graphics card are being pulled toward the far more lucrative business of building AI infrastructure.
Gamers hoping the pain would be limited to halo products should temper expectations. Coverage from egamers.io argues the coming bump won't spare the mid-range, and that every card is on the table. A separate MSN report frames the rumored increase as threatening to push PC upgrades further out of reach.
It's worth noting these reports are described as rumors and warnings, not confirmed Nvidia pricing announcements, and the exact timing remains unclear.
The backdrop isn't uniformly rosy for the company either. Investopedia reported that Nvidia shares lost ground Thursday after the AI chipmaker released its quarterly results, with analysts watching key price levels.
Why it matters: if these warnings hold, the AI boom stops being an abstract industry story and starts showing up directly in what ordinary people pay to build or upgrade a computer.