Nvidia and AMD graphics cards jump in price across China as memory costs climb

RTX 50-series cards in China rose by up to 59% over list price, with VRAM cost increases named as a driver.

MSI and PNY have announced new prices for the entire Nvidia RTX 50-series lineup in China, with increases reaching up to 59% over the manufacturer's suggested retail price, according to a Tom's Hardware report published 27 July 2026. MSI's own list shows a 10-20% rise from the prior week, and prices were already above MSRP. The RTX 5080 Shadow 3X, for example, moved from about 10,000 to 12,000 Yuan (roughly $1,477 to $1,773).

The hikes extend across brands and vendors. Colorful's RTX 5080 Vulcan W is priced 59% above MSRP, MSI's RTX 5070 Ti sits about 76% above, AMD cards are 14% to 29% higher, and Intel GPUs are up $200 to nearly $300. The report attributes the increases to rising VRAM prices, citing a roughly $20 increase per memory module, which it calculates adds about $100 to an 8GB card and $180 to a 16GB card.

Graphics cards are the workhorses of AI development, research, and creative work. When their cost jumps by half or more, compute becomes more gated: students, independent developers, and small labs face a higher wall to entry, and the gap between who can afford to build and who cannot widens.

Worth watching whether memory prices ease or continue climbing. Caveats: some figures come from Wccftech, Colorful's list lacks prior prices for comparison, dollar conversions are approximate, and the VRAM cost estimates are calculations rather than confirmed retail figures.

Source: Tom's Hardware