Nvidia is reportedly cutting RTX 50-series production to focus on AI demand

[DragonSlayer101]

Rumor mill: The AI boom is turning into an even bigger headache for PC builders than previously expected. Not only has it made DDR5 memory prohibitively expensive, but it is also driving another round of GPU shortages. Fueled by surging demand from AI data centers, Nvidia is reportedly cutting production of its RTX 50-series GPUs by 15 – 20 percent through at least Q3 2026.

The production cuts are reportedly affecting all RTX 50-series models, including the flagship RTX 5090, making it even scarcer than before. Output of the 5070 Ti will be drastically reduced, while the RTX 5080 and 5060 Ti 8GB will remain available in limited quantities. The RTX 5060, one of the most affordable models in the lineup, is expected to be taken off the market entirely.

According to unnamed sources cited by YouTube channel Moore's Law Is Dead, Nvidia is halting consumer graphics card production due to "vastly overbooked AI sales." A distributor reportedly confirmed that the RTX 5060 will be out of production for at least six months, while the 5090, 5070 Ti, and 5060 Ti 16GB will remain effectively "unobtainable" for an indefinite period.

Another source, reportedly a major retailer, appeared to confirm the shortage, stating that the RTX 5060 supply will soon run dry and remain unavailable until at least Q4. They added that the 5050 and 5060 Ti 8GB will be the only affordable models available in decent quantities through the summer. The 5080 and 5070 will also stay on the market, though in very limited volume.

Nvidia reportedly informed its board partners, distributors, and retailers that it will reevaluate its strategy in Q4. However, that doesn't mean production will return to normal anytime soon, so graphics card availability is likely to remain a significant problem for gamers and professionals for the foreseeable future.

What began as a memory crunch last year is now spreading to other segments of the PC hardware market, including SSDs, hard drives, and GPUs. Asus recently announced it was discontinuing the RTX 5070 Ti but later retracted the statement after Nvidia assured that it would continue shipping all RTX 50-series GPUs to board partners.

Soaring DRAM prices are also impacting the broader consumer electronics market, with smartphones expected to become more expensive this year. A recent IDC report suggested that PC and smartphone prices could rise by nearly 10 percent in 2026 if DRAM shortages continue.

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Nvidia is reportedly cutting RTX 50-series production to focus on AI demand

 

[yRaz]

People who are buying a 50 series card already bought one. Unless 6X frame Gen is appealing to you, keep your current card and save your money.

What sucks is that GPUs were finally starting to hit MSRP, but nGreedia can't let that happen....

I'm about to be back to work in a month and won't have any more time off until November so I'll probably just buy a 9070XT then.

I don't think the 60 series will really offer any more raw performance than the 50 series. Any gains from a node upgrade will be used to use more space on the die for AI features. 8x frame Gen instead of 6x.

 

[Hotdog1n]

Somehow the Nivida users will survive…

 

[DirkMeister]

This is just getting insane. I'm so glad I was lucky enough to afford to upgrade to my current gaming PC 3 years ago. It ain't much, but it's got an Nvidia RTX 3060 8GB with an Intel 11th Gen i7-11800H @ 2.30GHz (2.30 GHz). It has 32GB of DDR4 RAM and a 2TB SK Hynix internal SSD. On paper it's about the equivalent of an Xbox Series X or PS5 in terms of gaming performance. I can't believe how much common tech is getting so expensive these days. At the time I bought my new gaming laptop I also purchased a Samsung 1TB external SSD to add some extra storage. That cost me $120 CAD at the time and now the exact same external drive (Now a 4 year old model) is selling for twice that price. I remember the days when tech went down in price over the years, but those days seem gone. Glad I can wait out a couple of more years to upgrade thankfully. I've got an infinite number of game titles to catch up on in the meantime. Happy New Year everyone.

 

[NumberNine]

Oh no! Looks like I'll just have to pay someone else for a better product.

 

[unoficialoficial]

If affordable, high-performance components from China don't emerge soon, we might have no choice but to revert to older systems like Windows XP paired with DDR3 memory, dusting them off for use. The cost of the SSD storage needed for modern games (around 100GB) could, within a few months, become more expensive than the game itself. The Chinese market is enormous; under such immense pressure regarding component costs, they are likely developing the ability to manufacture cutting-edge chips. They simply cannot pay those inflated prices, nor can they function without computers. As a result, it's reasonable to expect that Chinese "cavalry" will arrive, possibly this year.

 

[godrilla]

I

If affordable, high-performance components from China don't emerge soon, we might have no choice but to revert to older systems like Windows XP paired with DDR3 memory, dusting them off for use. The cost of the SSD storage needed for modern games (around 100GB) could, within a few months, become more expensive than the game itself. The Chinese market is enormous; under such immense pressure regarding component costs, they are likely developing the ability to manufacture cutting-edge chips. They simply cannot pay those inflated prices, nor can they function without computers. As a result, it's reasonable to expect that Chinese "cavalry" will arrive, possibly this year.

Short term strategy would be prebuilt PCs that are still available at decent prices for high end parts. The hyper aware if still in need of hardware still buy nicely spec build.

Also 5090 Pre-builts cost as much as 5090 scalped now minimum.

 

[DrSuess]

The prices are ridiculous so I wasn't planning on buying one anyway. I was thinking yesterday that it will likely be along time before I buy another GPU.

These days I mostly play older games which my 4090 can handle at any resolution I want to play at.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

The prices are ridiculous so I wasn't planning on buying one anyway. I was thinking yesterday that it will likely be along time before I buy another GPU.

These days I mostly play older games which my 4090 can handle at any resolution I want to play at.

Deep rock galactic and arc raiders both run well on old hardware. Halo infinite can scale down as well.

Everything else I play is from 2014 or earlier and runs on a toaster. I'm over powerful PCs. My media PCs 4060 is more then enough to run everything now.

Oh no! Looks like I'll just have to pay someone else for a better product.

Perhaps gamers could try the superior 9070xt or 9060xt?

 

[Neatfeatguy]

Don't worry, they're looking to bring back the RTX 3060 (rumored). You'll get what they give you and you'll like it!

 

[ScottSoapbox]

Moore's Law is not a reliable source.

I still believe the production reductions are foremost because the increased memory cost will put GPU retail prices at a point where only a few (desperate) people will buy them.

So why make a bunch of cards that will sit on shelves until prices return to normal?

Nvidia has years of sales data at excessive prices to have a good gauge on how elastic demand is at various prices. And the least price sensitive people have already purchased their 5000 cards. Everyone left is waiting for a deal which now likely won't happen until the 6000 cards launch.

 

[letsgoiowa]

Got my 5070 the other day and it isn't getting reliably restocked per the best buy employee I talked to. She said it might be among the last in my state for a while and it's in the best shape among most of these models here. She said they haven't seen any 5070 Ti's that are below $1000 in a good long time so $550 for a 5070 seems good in comparison.

 

[Jackwoz]

Ive said before, I'll say it again; Nvidia have screwed the PC market over. The market that made them. But to be honest they are just chasing the money, and im sure most other corporations would do the same.

My eyes are back on AMD and Intel, and hoping that whilst nvidia focus entirely on AI they might invent something that changes the GPU market and nvidia loses the strangle hold they have on the PC consumer market.

 

[Eldrach]

My guess would be that what we'll see, is that resellers will focus on stuffing them into prebuilts to capitalize on the small quantity that will be dripping their way - Which will amplify the supply situation.
Nvidia could've kept the gaming market supplied, and still had around 80% of the memory capacity for AI cards if they were willing to do so, and still make a killing. ...But, they don't care - They'll ride the AI wave until it fizzles in the sand and just shift production back again.

 

[Megalomaniac]

I'm gonna enjoy ignoring the 6000 launch and 7000 launch. My 5090 should get me through till the 8090.

 

[godrilla]

Say goodbye to MSRP for Nvidia gpus.

 

[TechSavy101]

I'm laughing off with my MSI 5090 liquid both happy/sad due to insane greed these immoral companies and CEOs have and our government is busy taking over Greenland instead of dealing with internal matters.

 

[EugeneE]

Ive said before, I'll say it again; Nvidia have screwed the PC market over. The market that made them. But to be honest they are just chasing the money, and im sure most other corporations would do the same.

My eyes are back on AMD and Intel, and hoping that whilst nvidia focus entirely on AI they might invent something that changes the GPU market and nvidia loses the strangle hold they have on the PC consumer market.

I totally agree with you. I even posted days ago on my FB profile about what Nvidia is doing and I also wrote that Nvidia is throwing gamers to the side for AI but it was the gamers who made Nvidia what they are today. And if Nvidia stops making high end gpus, then another company like AMD, Intel or another company would need to take over. Because making gamers who have high end cards go from 24 GB/32 GB of video ram to like 8 GB gpus is a kick in the teeth to gamers.

 

[darkzelda]

RX 9070 XT is still at a decent price.

 

[Antias]

I'm soooo glad I did a full new build mid last year (7800X3D, 64GB RAM, 2x4TB NVMe, 5070Ti, etc..full build) AND decided to throw down on a new gaming laptop too (only a Lenovo LoQ with 5060 8GB 1080p for in-bed gaming of course! being a leftie those arrow key offsets are important..)
I just did a quick online look at the same components from the same store now (PC Case Gear) for the main PC build and I would now be spending almost $1500 AU more than I did only 6 months ago...

 

[Subset6]

I’m good. Not planning or even need a new gpu for some time. Likely post ps6. Plus 95% of new games are crap anyways. Deep in the backlogs atm, just started my very first play through of dishonored, what a gem.

 

[Rapob]

Funny how people complain about Nvidia, yet Nvidia sits at +90% gaming GPU marketshare without even trying. AMD don't even bother to compete due to limited TSMC output. AMD rather wants to make CPUs and APUs. They are mainly a CPU company, so I don't blame them.

AMD left high-end GPU market. Radeon 9000 was overall a step back from Radeon 7000. Less cores, smaller chips, smaller bus, less VRAM, only saved by FSR 4 which don't work on RDNA 3 and older (yay) but is somehow the golden feature of Radeon 9000 series and the only version of FSR worth using. Now we just need vastly better FSR 4 game support.

Hopefully AMD will re-enter high-end gaming GPUs when RDNA5 / UDNA is ready in 2027

2026 is going to be a very boring year for GPUs and my RTX 4090 won't go anywhere till RTX 6000 or RDNA5/UDNA, if they give me a reason to upgrade, for now, I don't lack power for anything and I won't lack power for the next few years either but I am probably going to get bored. Never had the same GPU for 5 years before...

1080 Ti to 3080 was a huge upgrade
3080 to 4090 was a huge upgrade
Now.. Waiting.. For a decent 4090 replacement that don't use 500-600 watts

 

[Beerfloat]

Perhaps gamers could try the superior 9070xt or 9060xt?

Sadly, that's not available, but we do have the inferior 9070xt or 9060xt for sale.

 

[James321]

Sales probably suck anyways people have had 4 years of basically the same performance 40 series not upgrading for fake frames and the people from 30 series bought 50 series.

Doubt there is many people left looking for new GPU's at this point.

 

[saladbarsmash]

I can't believe we're digressing and going backwards with technology to where we're talking about using DDR3, and PCIe3 m.2 drives. AI bubble needs to pop already.