Katarzyna Petru
The tech industry is buzzing. At the beginning of 2026, we received disturbing information about the alleged end of production for popular next-generation graphics cards. Although NVIDIA and ASUS officially deny these reports, the facts are indisputable: the global memory market crisis is starting to dictate conditions that we will all feel.
ASUS and NVIDIA: Communication Paralysis Around the RTX 50 Series
It all started with a report from Hardware Unboxed, which, citing representatives from ASUS, announced the EOL (End of Life) status for the GeForce RTX 5070 Ti and RTX 5060 Ti 16GB models. This information caused panic, suggesting that just a few months after the premiere, NVIDIA is withdrawing from the market some of the most cost-effective cards with larger amounts of VRAM.
The reaction from the manufacturers was swift but chaotic. ASUS issued a statement clarifying that these cards have not been withdrawn, and earlier information was a result of "incomplete communication" from the PR department. NVIDIA added that the demand is enormous, and production is ongoing, but they conceded to one key issue: the supply of memory is extremely limited.
AI is devouring the world's memory
The real reason for the confusion is not a lack of willingness from producers, but a drastic shortage of memory chips (both GDDR7 and standard DRAM). The explosion in demand for infrastructure for Artificial Intelligence has caused giants like Samsung and SK Hynix to redirect production capacities toward AI server farms, where margins are significantly higher. As a result, producing graphics cards with 16 GB of memory has become a logistical nightmare for manufacturers. NVIDIA faces a tough choice: either produce expensive flagship models (RTX 5090) or return to models with 8 GB of memory to maintain any availability of goods on the shelves.
Will televisions also get more expensive?
Although it might seem that the crisis only affects powerful computers, the RTV industry will also be hit. Modern Smart TVs usually have between 3 to 4 GB of RAM – this is little compared to graphics cards, but on the scale of millions of units produced, the demand for these components is gigantic.
During the CES 2026 trade show, representatives from Samsung warned that the costs of DRAM for consumer devices have nearly doubled over the past year. Even if a TV does not require the fastest GDDR7 chips, the competition for basic DRAM modules is becoming increasingly fierce “No company is immune to the effects of this crisis. It affects everything – from smartphones to household appliances and televisions” – admitted TM Roh, co-CEO of Samsung.
For us, consumers, this means one thing: the upcoming television launches for 2026 may debut with higher starting prices, and manufacturers may look for savings by reducing the amount of memory in cheaper models, which will directly affect the speed of Smart TV systems.
Source: Hardware Unboxed, Tom’s Hardware, NVIDIA, ASUS, FlatpanelsHD
