ZOTAC says the 'very survival' of GeForce RTX GPU manufacturers and distributors is at stake

With GPU prices for GeForce RTX 50 Series graphics cards increasing in several markets, ZOTAC has issued a grim warning to its Korean customers.

ZOTAC says the 'very survival' of GeForce RTX GPU manufacturers and distributors is at stake
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TL;DR: The ongoing memory crisis is causing significant GPU price hikes and supply shortages, impacting PC hardware markets. ZOTAC GAMING warns of reduced GeForce RTX 50 Series availability and unreasonable pricing, signaling a challenging GPU supply landscape for 2026 and the potential return of Ampere-era GPUs.

The current memory crisis is driving up prices across a wide range of PC hardware, and with no signs of slowing, it could have a far-reaching impact on consumer-facing companies. ZOTAC GAMING is a brand well-known among PC gaming enthusiasts and is widely regarded as the manufacturer of some of the best GeForce RTX graphics cards.

As the prices of its various GPUs have increased, the company's Korean office has issued a statement to its online customers in the region, apologizing for canceling its cashback rewards program and raising prices one month after its first wave of GPU price increases. The post confirms that, in addition to memory supply constraints, the supply of GeForce RTX 50 Series graphics cards will be reduced in the coming months.

Translated by @harukaze5719 on social media, ZOTAC not only says that the "current situation is extremely serious," but things have gotten to the point where the "very survival of graphics card manufacturers and distributors" could be at stake.

ZOTAC says the 'very survival' of GeForce RTX GPU manufacturers and distributors is at stake 2
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ZOTAC adds that several GeForce RTX 50 Series models are expected to be unavailable for an "extended period of time," and that the pricing it has recently received (presumably from NVIDIA) is "unreasonable." ZOTAC, like other NVIDIA board or AIB partners, received GPU dies and memory from NVIDIA, which it then packages with its own coolers and components.

The post confirms that the "unreasonable" price hikes are not limited to the GeForce RTX 5090, but also the mainstream GeForce RTX 5060. The post paints a rather bleak picture of the PC gaming GPU market for 2026 and adds that it will be challenging to maintain a supply of GPUs not built using Samsung's processes - aka the GeForce RTX 30 Series. So yeah, it seems that the rumors of Ampere-era GPUs like the GeForce RTX 3060 making a retail comeback this year are true.