That's just great: Graphics card prices in China are set to increase again as Nvidia shifts even more of production towards AI GPUs

Chinese GPU prices are slated to rise once more as Nvidia redirects more production towards AI GPUs, according to reports. This could further influence global prices for Nvidia and AMD cards. Asus is expected to hike the price of its RTX 5070 cards by 150 to 300 RMB ($22 to $45) in mainland China, while Gigabyte has already increased the price of its RTX 5060 Ti 16GB by 200 RMB ($30).

AMD has also hiked prices on several cards, with the RX 9070 XT up by 200 RMB, the RX 9060 XT (both 16G and 8G versions) up by up to 250 RMB, and the RX 7650 GRE by 400 RMB ($60). This follows AMD's announcement in July of a 10% increase in the price of its GPU and VRAM partner bundles. The memory supply crisis is partly responsible for the price hikes.

Nvidia has been gradually reducing its gaming GPU production, most recently cutting its shipping forecast by 15% to 20% and shifting production capacity towards manufacturing AI GPUs. Nvidia's data center segment generated $89 billion in revenue in the most recent quarter alone, and the company recently announced a $13 billion acquisition of AI development platform Hugging Face.

However, Nvidia may be shifting its focus to the professional segment rather than reducing 4nm GB20x Blackwell chip production. These chips are reportedly being directed towards enterprise products, which typically offer higher profit margins. As a result, fewer chips will be available for consumer GeForce graphics cards, leading to shorter supply and higher prices.

Nvidia has determined this approach is the most sensible way to navigate the volatile hardware landscape, but it means buying a bleeding-edge Nvidia GPU might still be cheaper to fly internationally to events like QuakeCon or PAX West.