A New Report Reveals That Motherboard Sales Have Plummeted amid Chip Shortages and the Absence of New Consumer GPU Releases. It’s a “water is wet” moment for those who understand the implications of having memory and storage costs double or triple, but others not involved in building their own systems may not have already connected the dots. As AI’s Kaiju-sized appetite continues to devour both natural and manufacturing resources globally, multiple sectors in the tech industry are struggling to adapt, and now the core of PC building is sinking due to chip shortages. Digitimes (via Tom’s Hardware).
According to the new report, motherboard sales have dropped by over 25%, and this drop has been attributed to not only the chip shortage but also a lack of new consumer GPU releases. Concerning the absence of new gaming graphics cards, it’s been speculated for some time that, and somewhat acknowledged by manufacturers, they too have been impacted by the immense price increases for memory chips. Neither AMD, Intel, nor NVIDIA has released any new gaming GPUs thus far in 2026, despite many rumors for each having products being developed. Factor in a lack of new gaming cards, extravagant costs for memory and storage, and we already have a triple threat to the budget of those thinking about building a new PC. All this without checking off more spots on the bingo card when it comes to rumors that other factors could also see price increases for other components.
ASUS is already on track to sell 5 million fewer motherboards this year, with MSI and GIGABYTE also expecting a significant drop in sales. Current projection forecasts a 33% year-over-year decline for ASUS in 2026 and roughly 22% reduction for MSI and GIGABYTE. ASRock leads the pack in falling sales expected to be around 37%.
In essence, we are seeing an implosion in the PC building space. With no official word from AMD, Intel, or NVIDIA regarding new GPUs, which are now rumored to not arrive until 2028, along with the continued rising prices for memory and storage, it’s an abysmal outlook for PC enthusiasts considering new upgrades. It gets even worse when CPU price hikes occur shortly after launch, as seen with Intel’s recent price hikes.
“The shortage of memory and CPUs has directly impacted consumer demand. Multiple shipment forecasts warn that the global PC market, which had just begun to recover, will once again enter a recession in 2026.”
– Digitimes
Discussion (6 replies)
Join Discussion →I mean wow... Hopefully a report will let the industry know, not making parts reduces sales.
It does seem that motherboard review traffic has taken a bit of a hit this year....
ASRock has taken reputation damage over the AM5 issues. I commented weeks ago that there was not a single ASRock board in the top 20 on Amazon at the time. For Asus, it is having infamously bad customer service.
Yeah not a surprise. Based on broader news this seems to be happening across the board even beyond computer components as budgets are squeezed for a hundred different reasons now.
Name of the game is hunker down and make what you got last for as long as possible nowadays.
Yupz, that's 100% the truth.
No one I know is in the market for a new motherboard. Most of my friends and clients are on some form of AM4, be it X570 or B550 or otherwise. The way the PC market is, they are gonna be on those machines for a good long time. Other people like a friend of mine and @Peter_Brosdahl got lucky and were able to build AM5 machines in Spring 2025 or earlier, before the RAMpocalypse began. That means they are in a much better position to weather out this storm of DRAM and NAND shortages.
If you ask me, the only people shopping for motherboards are doing so because their current board died and they need a replacement. They might be looking at used boards at that point. Otherwise the only people who would be getting a motherboard are those looking to build a new system, and RAM is gonna make that almost impossible, and SSD prices aren't helping either. Nah, everyone who has something decent now is just fortunate to have what they have, cuz they are gonna be on it a long time. So can't say I'm surprised motherboard sales have slowed down.
While I was able to get in the game for AM5 for at least one of my machines, I regretfully didn't go with the faster RAM. I don't see myself doing anything but maybe jumping on Zen 6 when it comes out. I'll stand pat with my setup otherwise.