The fallout from the artificial intelligence (AI) boom is spreading to China's computer components market. Prices of Nvidia high-performance graphics cards have nearly doubled in just over two months, and some models have posted increases of more than 100%. The diagnosis is that, as computing demand from AI data centers surges, semiconductor production is concentrating on enterprise products, leaving even the supply of consumer graphics cards tight.
According to Chinese economic outlet Yicai (China Business Network) on the 27th, market prices of Nvidia high-performance graphics cards have been rising rapidly in recent days in Shenzhen's Huaqiangbei, China's largest electronics distribution hub. The gaming model GeForce RTX 5060 now sells at around 4,000 yuan (about 800,000 won). Prices that were still in the 2,000-yuan range just over two months ago have nearly doubled.
A local seller said, "The RTX 5060 was around 3,000 yuan just two weeks ago, but in the last few days it has surpassed 4,000 yuan," adding, "The price surge over the past two weeks in particular is alarming."
The higher the model, the bigger the increase. The RTX 5070 is trading at around 8,000 yuan, and some units have topped 9,000 yuan. Its price rose three times last week alone, jumping about 1,000 yuan in a week. The RTX 5080 has also risen by about 6,000 to 7,000 yuan recently.
The top-end RTX 5090 has surpassed 50,000 yuan, and the RTX 5090D, made for the Chinese market, is also selling at around 30,000 yuan. Considering that Huaqiangbei merchants bought the newly released RTX 5090 in the 20,000-yuan range in mid-year, the increase is substantial. Local sellers said the RTX 5090's selling price has nearly doubled in a few months and has risen about 10,000 yuan in just the past ten days or so.
Prices at online shopping malls follow the same trend. According to data from Chinese price comparison platform Manmanbuy, the Asus RTX 5060 8GB model, which was 2,749 yuan at the end of July, recently jumped 75% to 4,799 yuan. The RTX 5070 12GB model from Chinese graphics card maker Colorful rose more than 60%, from 6,599 yuan to about 10,799 yuan, and the Galaxy RTX 5080 16GB model rose 115%, from 10,399 yuan to about 22,399 yuan.
Huaqiangbei merchants said in one voice that they have to keep changing their price tags. One seller said, "The price I quoted a customer last week went up 800 yuan three days later, and when I was asked again today it had risen more than 1,000 yuan on top of that." Some shops guarantee prices only on the day a quote is issued, because market prices fluctuate so much.
The local distribution industry points to the explosive computing demand of the AI industry as the cause of the price surge. The explanation is that as semiconductors and related components concentrate on production of products for AI data centers, the volume of components available for gaming graphics cards has shrunk, and with supply tied up, prices of high-performance consumer products are soaring. Recently there was even a rumor that Nvidia had halted RTX 5090 production to increase enterprise graphics processing unit (GPU) volumes, but Nvidia denied it.
By contrast, prices of ordinary office components and low-end graphics cards have not changed much. In Huaqiangbei, an office computer that needs no separate graphics card can be assembled for around 2,000 yuan, but adding a high-performance graphics card costs thousands to tens of thousands of yuan more.
Local sellers expect prices of high-performance graphics cards to stay high for the time being or likely rise further. Some point out that expanded investment in AI data centers is shaking even the supply of components for the gaming and personal computer market, adding to the burden on consumers.