Japanese retailers begin restricting GPU sales—will prices rise again?

The relentless price surge for DRAM and NAND flash memory shows no signs of stabilizing and is poised to ripple through the hardware market, specifically targeting graphics card availability.

Warnings regarding a potential spike in GPU costs surfaced months ago. Recently, speculation has intensified that industry giants NVIDIA and AMD are preparing for significant price adjustments—reaching unprecedented levels. Some rumors even suggest the flagship RTX 5090 could debut with a staggering $5,000 price tag.

While there is hope that these figures are merely speculative, the market remains vulnerable. Even if official MSRPs remain unchanged, a severe shortage of video memory (VRAM) could throttle production. Such a bottleneck risks a repeat of previous years when GPU prices skyrocketed during the cryptocurrency mining boom.

As reported by Tom’s Hardware, Tsukumo, a major electronics retailer in Tokyo, has begun imposing purchase limits on graphics cards equipped with 16GB of VRAM or more. This policy even extends to more accessible models like the RTX 4060 Ti, restricting customers to a single unit per purchase.

Further reports indicate that several Japanese retailers—including Tsukumo, Sycom, and Mouse Computers—are warning customers of indefinite fulfillment delays heading into 2026. Some firms have already suspended orders for new gaming desktops, citing a critical deficit in the memory supply chain.

Source: iXBT.games