RTX 5090s are going for as much as $9000, as AI server builders reportedly buy Nvidia's flagship by the pallet, but the photos behind the story may be AI-generated
AI firms are reportedly buying RTX 5090s by the pallet, which Nvidia's own driver license has prohibited since 2017.
The cheapest available US RTX 5090 now costs over $6000, far exceeding its initial $1,999 launch price, with third-party listings often going for more than $9,000. The GPU, which reached $3,500 in February 2026 due to memory constraints, has now reached new price heights at multiple retailers. This surge in prices is attributed to the growing demand for AI, as data center operators seek to secure compute power despite Nvidia's GeForce driver license forbidding data center deployment since 2017.
Photographs circulated by Hong Kong outlet HKEPC, and picked up by publications like Guru3D, VideoCardz, and TechPowerUp, show wooden pallets stacked with boxed, retail GeForce RTX 5090 cards at AI server assembly sites. These images, however, have been disputed by some, with Kevin Hofer from Swiss retailer Digitec questioning the authenticity of the images due to box lettering that seems nonsensical.
The RTX 5090 is Nvidia's most powerful consumer-grade card, featuring a Blackwell-based GB202 chip and 32GB of GDDR7 memory, making it suitable for both AI use cases and high-end gaming at 4K or higher. Despite Nvidia's efforts to restrict data center usage through its GeForce driver EULA, the chip designer has implemented technological restrictions in the past to prevent GPU miners from hoarding supply.
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