AMD to allegedly raise graphics card prices by at least 10% in 2026 — price surge attributed to ongoing AI-related DRAM supply crisis
After weeks of hints and speculation, it's now (almost) official: AMD has told its supply partners that it will raise graphics cards prices by at least 10% in the new-year due to rising memory prices, as per analyst Dan Nystedt (via UDN). This is reportedly the second time AMD has raised its prices in recent months, though the first was kept internal and just ate into AMD's margins. This time though, it's passing it on to the partners, who will in turn pass it on to consumers.
The subject of graphics card pricing has been a contentious one for a number of years now. Prices and power draw have risen generation upon generation, and cryptocurrency-induced shortages have occasionally spiked demand and the cost of a new GPU in turn. 2025 started with something similar, though that seemed to be more down to deliberately constrained supply — or perhaps a shift of Nvidia and AMD's focus to AI.
That's only become more apparent throughout the year, and as data centers the world over ate up GPUs, CPUs, memory, storage, and anything else they could get their hands on (including entire power plants), prices for most components have risen in turn. None quite so much as memory, though, which has jumped close to 200% per stick in recent months, and that shortage is now making its way into other industries: most notably, graphics cards.
PowerColor recently warned that GPU price rises were coming, and AMD seems to have now confirmed it to its suppliers and board partners. In the translated text, UDN's sources claim it'll be by at least 10%, suggesting that could be the floor of AMD's potential price rises. However, Mr Nystedt suggests that 10% is the figure, so we'll have to wait and see how it shakes out or for an official announcement from AMD, to know for sure.
This is unfortunate timing for AMD which has struggled to get the price of its flagship RX 9070 XT even close to its recommended retail price throughout the year. It just managed it this week, hitting $599 for the first-time since release as part of Black Friday. But that seems likely to be incredibly short-lived. Not least because that's a decent deal for a great graphics card.
AMD is unlikely to be alone in its GPU prices rises either. Nvidia is expected to have delayed the launch of an RTX 50 Super series of graphics cards because of memory shortages, and unlikely to lose profit on its graphics cards when selling to gamers since it makes so much selling them to data center developers.
If you're keen to get ahead of the price rises and want to buy a graphics card before the end of the year, here's our list of the best graphics cards out there right now. Better yet, check out our Black Friday deals page to see if there's something you can snap up before anyone else.
