Motherboard sales are collapsing because AI data centers made RAM too expensive to buy

[Daniel Sims]

Ripple effect: The push to build AI data centers has driven up the prices of numerous PC components and other devices, especially memory. As manufacturers struggle to maintain inventory, the effects have cascaded through the DIY PC and broader electronics markets, dragging down sales of related products.

Sources tell DigiTimes that, late last year, four major motherboard manufacturers in Taiwan significantly downgraded their 2026 shipment projections. Although motherboards are not suffering the same AI-related shortages as RAM, DIY builders see little need to purchase motherboards if they can't afford the components to install on them.

Asus motherboard shipments grew from 14 million to 15 million between 2024 and 2025, but the company has only shipped around 5 million so far this year. Asus expects 2026 sales to total only 10 million, potentially representing a 30% decline. Asrock estimates a similar drop from 4.4 million to 2.7 million.

Meanwhile, shipments of Gigabyte and MSI motherboards are expected to fall by around 25%. Gigabyte projects sales of 8 to 8.5 million this year, compared to 11.5 million in 2025, while MSI warned that its shipments might drop from 11 million to 8.4 million.

AI data center construction has diverted a significant portion of memory production capacity, making DDR5 RAM unaffordable for many customers looking to build new PCs. The impact on newer AMD CPUs that require DDR5 RAM is already apparent in sales charts, so sales of the required AM5-compatible motherboards have likely fallen as well.

Shortages have also caused prices of graphics cards, CPUs, and SSDs to rise sharply. Products that incorporate these components, such as laptops, game consoles, and prebuilt PCs, have also faced price hikes and delays.

Valve originally intended to launch its Linux-based Steam Machine gaming PC in early 2026, but difficulties sourcing RAM have made a release this year increasingly unlikely. Meanwhile, Apple has been forced to raise prices for Macs and cease offering certain models due to both memory shortages and the Mac mini's newfound popularity among AI developers. Prices of PlayStation and Xbox game consoles have also increased, while a hike is scheduled to hit the Nintendo Switch 2 in September.

Additionally, RAM shortages allegedly prompted Nvidia to cancel the rumored RTX 50 Super series of graphics cards, giving users one less reason to upgrade their PCs. The disruption of the traditional PC upgrade cycle prompted AMD to estimate that its gaming revenue could fall by 20% in the second half of 2026.

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Motherboard sales are collapsing because AI data centers made RAM too expensive to buy

 

[Rapob]

Intel's socket 1954 could not have launched at a worse time. Few will be buying a brand new platform anytime soon.

And considering how important RAM speed is for Intel gaming performance, you need to splash big money, unless bLLC truly is good and a proper X3D alternative.

I won't be buying a regular CPU ever again. It is X3D or bLLC, big cache chips only, from here.

 

[yRaz]

And to the surprise of absolutely noone.....not only is AI killing the ability of consumers to buy electronics, it's killing the businesses that serve those consumers. Although, I don't think anyone will really miss Asus all that much if that go under. My last good Asus experience was back in 2006.

And I really love nVidia canceling the 50 super series because of a RAM shortage that they created.....

 

[Rapob]

Nvidia had no incentive to release 5000 SUPER, AMDs best card is 9070 XT 16GB so why would Nvidia bother much? That is what I am thinking.

Nvidia probably moves straight to RTX 6000 in 1-2 years.

I'd love to see RDNA 5 / UDNA launch first.

 

[LemmingO]

Motherboards, CPUs, GPUs, take your pick. The DIY PC-builder culture is dying at max speed.

 

[dualkelly]

This situation is a good argument to make RAM backwards compatible.

 

[The Talking Tech]

And to the surprise of absolutely noone.....not only is AI killing the ability of consumers to buy electronics, it's killing the businesses that serve those consumers. Although, I don't think anyone will really miss Asus all that much if that go under. My last good Asus experience was back in 2006.

And I really love nVidia canceling the 50 super series because of a RAM shortage that they created.....

I completely agree with you!

 

[Puiu]

And when will they be slashing prices too?

 

[NumberNine]

Surely this is the end of the line for us all. Somebody do something!

 

[Hecate91]

Perhaps motherboard manufacturers should compensate with more reasonable prices, motherboards have gotten out of hand being $300-400, yet not having a BIOS code display, power and reset button, or high end onboard audio. Features that used to be on many motherboards under $200.

 

[yRaz]

Surely this is the end of the line for us all. Somebody do something!

Well as long as companies keep buying GPUs with money that doesn't exist(overvaluing their assets and leveraging them to get billion dollar loans) there will be no help. AI stocks are starting to look a lot like the subprime loan market

 

[axiomatic13]

Come on bubble. It's time to pop.

 

[psycros]

The AI bubble is gonna make the .com one look like a minor downturn when it collapses. How will all these data centers be paid for? Why, by expensive AI services that only the biggest companies will be stupid enough to buy into. And when they realize that AI causes as many problems as it solves (if not more) the new hotness will suddenly be authentic human intelligence. However, don't think this will result in a sudden fire sale on chips, though - the Chinese will happily scarf up as much as possible for their imperialistic military schemes.

 

[yRaz]

The AI bubble is gonna make the .com one look like a minor downturn when it collapses. How will all these data centers be paid for? Why, by expensive AI services that only the biggest companies will be stupid enough to buy into. And when they realize that AI causes as many problems as it solves (if not more) the new hotness will suddenly be authentic human intelligence. However, don't think this will result in a sudden fire sale on chips, though - the Chinese will happily scarf up as much as possible for their imperialistic military schemes.

The companies will file for bankruptcy, the data centers will goto sheriff sale for pennies on the dollar, they will be bought up by the same billionaires who caused the crash and already cashed out, then the US population will be stuck bailing out the banks again.

 

[Mr Majestyk]

Nvidia had no incentive to release 5000 SUPER, AMDs best card is 9070 XT 16GB so why would Nvidia bother much? That is what I am thinking.

Nvidia probably moves straight to RTX 6000 in 1-2 years.

I'd love to see RDNA 5 / UDNA launch first.

Unfortunately Lisa Su is a every bit as much an AI mercenary as Letherman now and could not care less about the revenue crumbs us peasants supply AMD with. We are fly **** now in her chase for AI dollars. RDNA5 will come out when they could be bothered care about PC market, and even then it'll most likely be a paper launch or will be available in small batches that sell out in seconds.

 

[acrossthestars]

Honestly, I don't understand why either Nvidia or AMD even bother selling hardware to consumers anymore. If the goal is it do more AI, they might as well go "all in" and discontinue their entire graphics lineup. Redirect 100% of their company R&D into enterprise server deployments. That's clearly where they and their shareholders think the money.

 

[OortCloud]

My last good Asus experience was back in 2006.

I still find their hardware pretty good in the main but their software and drivers are atrocious - ArmoryCrate and Aura etc. Even worse than their software is their tech support which is literally non-existent. In my experience you get zero response from them if you have issues.

 

[yRaz]

I still find their hardware pretty good in the main but their software and drivers are atrocious - ArmoryCrate and Aura etc. Even worse than their software is their tech support which is literally non-existent. In my experience you get zero response from them if you have issues.

Their hardware is still top notch, but the moment you have an issue for the a nightmare. Drivers, software, customer service. The headavhes aren't worth it

 

[Win7user]

Greedy RAM companies is the problem.

 

[Rapob]

Unfortunately Lisa Su is a every bit as much an AI mercenary as Letherman now and could not care less about the revenue crumbs us peasants supply AMD with. We are fly **** now in her chase for AI dollars. RDNA5 will come out when they could be bothered care about PC market, and even then it'll most likely be a paper launch or will be available in small batches that sell out in seconds.

Both AMD and Intel dream about making billions in the AI market like Nvidia, can't really blame them, why should they focus on selling cheap gaming GPUs with low margins?

AMD and Intel is CPU first as well. Nvidia is GPU first. No comparison really.

After all, 95% or more buys a GPU in the sub 750 dollar space. AMD is highly competitive here. 9070 XT is vastly cheaper than 5070 Ti now, and performs similar. 9070 XT is priced close to 5070 12GB which it destroys in most cases, while having 16GB.


RDNA 4 was all about grabbing marketshare, and it seems to work fine:

Steam Hardware & Software Survey

AMD soon at 20% GPU marketshare, Intel close to 10%

I wonder if Nvidia is going to release anything new before 2028.

 

[GoldenGoat]

All 3 (Asrock is Asus) motherboard makers have been price gouging for years, so I don’t feel bad for them. plus they all make other stuff so they should be ok.

 

[trents]

On the other hand, there might soon be some steep discounts on motherboards to clear inventory. You could save now on a motherboard purchase and bide your time for the purchase of RAM when (and if) the prices for RAM begin to decline. The day will come when AI data center construction slows down and/or new RAM factories come online. When? That is the question.

 

[Gravitytr1]

Motherboards, CPUs, GPUs, take your pick. The DIY PC-builder culture is dying at max speed.

How to prepare for a world where all your devices are in locked hellacapes with no "side loading" is the remaining question.

A console for a laptop, likely a Chromebook cloud like OS with a monthly sub and mandatory government scanning.