Nvidia RTX 50 Series Prices to Rise Up to 30% in South Korea

Prices for Nvidia's desktop GeForce RTX 50 series graphics cards are set to rise in South Korea beginning this month, according to a report by ZDNet Korea cited by Tom's Hardware and TechPowerUp. Major graphics card manufacturers are expected to increase prices by up to 30%, with the size of the hike varying by model, in a range of roughly 20% to 30%.

The increases are attributed to two main factors: higher costs for advanced process wafers from TSMC, and rising prices for GDDR7 memory. TSMC recently asked customers to prepare for price increases across its advanced chipmaking portfolio, extending beyond its newer 3nm process to include 7nm and other legacy nodes.

On the memory side, Tom's Hardware, citing market research firm TrendForce, reported that 2GB GDDR7 modules used in the RTX 50 series have risen to about $20 per unit. Nvidia supplies its add-in board partners with a kit that includes both the GPU die and GDDR7 memory, so cost increases from memory suppliers pass through to those partners and ultimately to consumers. As fabrication and memory costs have climbed, Nvidia has raised the prices of the RTX 50 series packages it sells to board partners, who in turn pass the higher costs along.