Asus has cracked the seal on worth hikes simply forward of CES 2026. The electronics maker, which is liable for a variety of PC gaming {hardware} together with the already $1,000 ROG Xbox Ally X, warned companions of “strategic price adjustments” for sure merchandise beginning January 5.
The corporate didn’t specify which merchandise would get dearer or by how a lot, but it surely did blame the present AI arms race for the upwards strain on pricing. “These changes reflect shifts in capacity allocation by upstream suppliers, higher investment costs for advanced manufacturing processes, and structural supply gaps created by rising AI compute demand,” govt Liao Yi-Xiang wrote in a December 30 letter that was translated by Videocardz.
The corporate immediately factors to DRAM, NAND, and SSD part shortages as a part of the difficulty. The announcement comes simply days forward of the annual Client Electronics Present in Las Vegas the place Asus and different {hardware} producers will likely be revealing new {hardware} updates and different tech merchandise.
Gaming shortages, worth hikes, and next-gen console delays
Asus’ warning is the primary laborious proof that 2026 will proceed to see gaming get dearer throughout the spectrum as main tech companies pivot to supplying ever-increasing calls for for generative AI compute capability. There have been rumors all through the tip of 2025 that AMD and different firms had been going to face shortages, with some hardware insiders claiming that Microsoft’s Xbox could be among the many hardest hit as a result of poor stock administration.
In response to Insider Gaming, the issue has gotten so dangerous that some {hardware} producers are already discussing potential delays to next-gen {hardware} launches just like the PlayStation 6 and new Xbox. “The situation has led console manufacturers to debate whether the next generation of consoles should be delayed from their intended 2027-2028 release window, with the hope that RAM manufacturers will be able to build out their infrastructure to produce more RAM, thereby allowing prices to drop,” it reported last month.
Extra just lately, South Korea outlet Newsis reported that Nvidia and AMD are already considerably growing GPU costs in 2026. Essentially the most eye-popping declare was that graphics playing cards just like the $2,000 RTX 5090 might greater than double in worth to $5,000 by the tip of the 12 months. However even a lot smaller worth will increase of only a few hundred {dollars} would make PC gaming’s present affordability disaster proceed to spiral uncontrolled.
Regardless of the short-term influence on pricing for gaming parts, the AI race has already remade firms like Microsoft and Nvidia, to the purpose the place their non-AI enterprise seems as a relative rounding error on the bigger enterprise’s P&L. And not using a full implosion of the gen AI market (by no means say by no means), it’s hard to see that changing any time soon.
