Video card pricing may jump $5 to $20 in near future

DigiTimes heard from its sources that prices of video cards are expected to go up in the near future. The site writes mid-range and high-end models are expected to become $5 to $20 more expensive due to shortages of memory and GPUs.

Video card makers expected demand from cryptocurrency miners would wane but this is not happening as quickly as expected. The result is that the supply of GPUs will remain tight in Q1 2018.

Besides continued demand from miners, GPU sales are also seeing a boost from the popularity of PUBG. These are probably primarily mid-range models.

Graphics card vendors including Asustek Computer, Gigabyte Technology and Micro-Star International (MSI) benefited from the cryptocurrency mining demand and their shipments dropped only mildly in the fourth quarter of 2017.

Meanwhile, graphics card upgrade demand has been picking up in the gaming sector thanks to the recent release of the blockbuster game PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds. Demand has been especially strong from China due to the game's strong popularity.