Wednesday, January 6th 2021
GPUs to See Price Increase Due to Import Tariffs, Other PC Components to Follow
Yesterday, we have reported that ASUS is officially increasing the prices of their graphics cards and motherboards, due to increased component and logistics costs. What the company meant by that was not exactly clear to everyone, as it looked like the company has adjusted to the current market prices exceeding the MSRP of components like graphics cards. The GPUs are today selling at much higher prices compared to the original MSRP and it is representing a real problem for consumers. Today, we get to see what is the underlying problem behind the announcement we saw yesterday and if we are going to see more of that in the close future.
According to the New York Times, the Chinese import tariff exemptions have expired with the arrival of a new year (2021) and we can expect the tariffs to start from 7.5%-25%, which will massively increase component costs. A Reddit user has noted that MSRP will increase about $80 for every major GPU manufacturer like ASUS, GIGABYTE, PNY, Zotac, etc. so we are expecting MSRP adjustment from other companies to follow just like ASUS did. The import tariff exemptions are also supposed to increase MSRPs of other PC components like motherboards, SSDs, PSUs, cases... everything without exemption. As a product of a trade war between China and the Trump administration, it remains a question will these tariffs get easier shortly, so consumers can afford their desired components.
Sources:
Tom's Hardware, Reddit
According to the New York Times, the Chinese import tariff exemptions have expired with the arrival of a new year (2021) and we can expect the tariffs to start from 7.5%-25%, which will massively increase component costs. A Reddit user has noted that MSRP will increase about $80 for every major GPU manufacturer like ASUS, GIGABYTE, PNY, Zotac, etc. so we are expecting MSRP adjustment from other companies to follow just like ASUS did. The import tariff exemptions are also supposed to increase MSRPs of other PC components like motherboards, SSDs, PSUs, cases... everything without exemption. As a product of a trade war between China and the Trump administration, it remains a question will these tariffs get easier shortly, so consumers can afford their desired components.
76 Comments on GPUs to See Price Increase Due to Import Tariffs, Other PC Components to Follow
Asking for companies to build factories in the US while failing to address the distant lack of factories, skilled labor, and other factories that supply parts like screws and metal fabrication is planning to fail, plain and simple. It took china decades to build it's manufacturing logistics and to disseminate skills among many workers.
Moreover, there's nothing stopping these companies from simply relocating to another low labor cost country. To top that off, you also have to consider the impact of automation. There may come a time soon when the only manufacturing jobs left require a formal education or more training then simple trade school can provide. Again, that's another category America does poorly in, given that people are robbed blind by the higher education system or simply don't go at all.
This just sounds like a reason to try to bump selling prices even higher to maintain their profit because I am pretty sure the likes of Asus is not selling that many motherboard and GPU with ongoing supply issues.
In the end all announced MSRPs were just bullshit and only the price of 3090 turned out to be true
Just looked and PS5 almost doubled the sales of XBox.
Same card costs : 3598.21NZD over here...
Yeah you really got to need something to buy anything now there's way too much wasted cost atm
All jokes aside, what a fucking catastrophe this has been with the new GPUs and the massive price hikes, even from a local vendor you have to physically enter the store to purchase. You can't buy these items online from MicroCenter, so it's first come first serve at the store. That's nice and all, but these prices suck. If this card was listed at $600 I'd grit my teeth, battle the crappy winter roads here from the recent snow fall and drive the 20 miles to my MicroCenter and try my luck at picking one up.....but not for $800. Hell no.