In summary:
- PCWorld reports MSI will raise gaming hardware prices by 15-30% due to memory costs surging from $40 to $200 for 16GB DDR5.
- The industry expects overall PC price increases of 20-40%, significantly impacting consumer hardware availability and affordability.
- MSI will prioritize high-margin products and DDR4 motherboards for budget buyers while targeting AI server revenue growth.
If you’re trying to find gaming hardware on a budget in 2026…maybe just dig in your backyard for gold or oil, you’ll be more likely to find it. According to recent statements from an MSI general manager, the company is raising prices on its gaming hardware by 15-30 percent.
Said manager is Huang Jinquing, quoted by the United Daily News of Taiwan (and machine translated). The company is responding to “the increase in memory prices” and corresponding increases in graphics card prices, which rely heavily on memory modules. The manager points to an increase in the price of a 16GB DDR5 DIMM from $40 last year to as much as $200 today.
The report claims that MSI has “1 to 2 months of secure memory inventory,” meaning that prices will inevitably rise as the company tries to get new inventory from memory manufacturers and other suppliers like Nvidia. To further protect its profits, MSI will focus on more expensive, higher-margin hardware, sacrificing budget devices. To quote the report — and once again I emphasize that this is a machine translation — MSI “will focus its resources on mid- to high-end products. and high-quality customers. If the market declines by 10%, but the price dynamics increase by 15 to 30%, revenue will catch up or exceed.”
MSI’s projected price increase falls in line with projections for the rest of the industry, which started the year predicting a general rise in PC prices of 20 percent, and now shows as much as 40 percent, as the memory, storage, and GPU sectors rush to supply far more profitable data centers and sideline consumer hardware. (If you’re wondering why it’s “only” 40 percent, while RAM and SSDs are as much as quadrupling in price, manufacturers aren’t quite as exposed to the sways as us mere mortals at the end of the supply chain.)
MSI isn’t sitting out that side of the business. As Tom’s Hardware reports, it’s hoping for a 50 to 100 percent increase in revenue for “AI” servers. It’s not all bad news, as MSI is also intending to prioritize manufacturing of DDR4-capable motherboards, anticipating a higher demand from cash-strapped consumers.
Author: Michael Crider, Staff Writer, PCWorld
Michael is a 15-year veteran of technology journalism, covering everything from Apple to ZTE. On PCWorld he’s the resident keyboard nut, always using a new one for a review and building a new mechanical board or expanding his desktop “battlestation” in his off hours. Michael’s previous bylines include Android Police, Digital Trends, Wired, Lifehacker, and How-To Geek, and he’s covered events like CES and Mobile World Congress live. Michael lives in Pennsylvania where he’s always looking forward to his next kayaking trip.
