Leaks Predict $5000 RTX 5090 GPUs in 2026 Thanks to AI Industry Demand

It’s no secret that gaming is suffering under something of an affordability crisis, with increased demand for AI-capable GPUs and DDR5 memory resulting in rising prices for gamers and other far-reaching side effects on the gaming hardware market. Now, though, fresh leaks suggest that things are only going to get worse in 2026. According to Korean publication, Newsis, both AMD and NVIDIA are planning to gradually and permanently increase GPU prices “over the next several months.” This is expected to start as early as January 2026, when AMD is expected to increase prices. NVIDIA will allegedly follow suit in February.

If the publication’s insider sources are correct, the NVIDIA RTX 5090, which launched at $1,999, will reach as high as $5,000 before the end of the year. No prediction has been made for AMD’s RX 9000 series, but memory has already been said to take up as much as 80% of the average GPU BOM cost, and memory prices are expected to increase by as much as 40% by Q2 2026. We’ve already reported on the fact that instability and price increases in the DRAM market will likely affect launch windows for upcoming hardware, potentially reaching as far as next-gen console launches, and ASUS recently announced that it would be increasing hardware prices starting in early January 2026, despite also increasing DDR4 motherboard production in response to the changing market.