NVIDIA's upcoming GeForce RTX 50 series graphics cards are reportedly facing a significant price increase, potentially ranging from 20-30% depending on the specific model. This anticipated hike is primarily attributed to the rapidly escalating costs of GDDR7 memory, supplied by NVIDIA's VRAM manufacturers.

South Korean importers and distributors have reportedly been notified of this impending price adjustment. NVIDIA supplies its add-in board (AIB) partners with a kit that bundles the GPU die with GDDR7 memory. Consequently, any price surge from memory producers directly impacts AIBs and, by extension, end consumers. Currently, GDDR7 memory modules are priced in the low $20s per 2GB unit.

For the flagship GeForce RTX 5090, this translates to a minimum of $320 solely for the GDDR7 memory, before factoring in the GPU die cost, R&D expenses, and AIB profit margins. This price pressure is felt even within South Korea, a global center for DRAM production, with major players like Samsung and SK hynix unable to circumvent the rising costs, which are expected to persist.