Supply restrictions implemented! Nvidia favors data services, and GeForce graphics cards are getting more and more expensive.

The gaming graphics card market is currently affected by the DRAM crisis, with prices having increased significantly compared to last year, and there is no sign of a downward trend. Given the current situation, prices are likely to continue rising or remain high.

In NVIDIA’s Q4 FY2026 (referring to 2025) earnings call, the company discussed supply issues facing the GeForce gaming graphics card business. CFO Colette Kress stated that supply restrictions are expected to continue into Q1 FY2027 (referring to 2026) and beyond, despite strong end-market demand and healthy channel inventories.

In Q4, NVIDIA’s gaming division revenue reached $3.7 billion, a 47% year-over-year increase. NVIDIA credits this success to the strong market performance of the RTX 5000 series graphics cards based on the Blackwell architecture.

However, NVIDIA did not disclose detailed supply data for GeForce gaming graphics cards, nor did it specify which part of the supply chain is causing shipment restrictions. It only mentioned that supply restrictions will persist beyond Q1 and did not provide a timeline for when they might be lifted.

This supply issue originates from the supply side itself, not from weak end-market demand. The likely reason is that capacity is being allocated to more profitable AI business segments. After all, data center revenue is $62.3 billion, while gaming revenue is only $3.7 billion. Under a profit-maximization strategy, capacity is inevitably being squeezed.

For foundries like TSMC, with limited capacity for advanced processes like 3nm and 4nm, prioritizing AI chips that generate dozens of times more profit is a logical choice—unless they are charitable organizations.

Regardless, for PC consumers, although NVIDIA has recently denied rumors of discontinued graphics card models, the high prices of GeForce gaming cards are unlikely to be resolved in the short term.

Players are either forced to accept inflated prices through channels or stick with older cards and endure the performance gap. In the face of this graphics card supply restriction, ordinary gamers can only passively accept the situation. Perhaps it’s time to abandon NVIDIA and switch to AMD, as the chance of finding reasonably priced graphics cards might be greater.