Non-AI datacenter hardware manufacturers looking at the AI-datacenter component price hikes: “Uhm… our components are also being affected by … uhm… whatever the rest of them are suffering from”.

Well, I hate to break it to them, I can’t sustain it either.

So I don’t plan on buying anything for the foreseeable future. Even if something experiences a failure, I’ll just go without, or pull out an older device out of retirement. I don’t really need the latest and greatest anyway. If it comes down to it and I do need to replace a piece of hardware, it’ll come from the used market, or god forbid I get my soldering iron out and fix it.

Shocker, those who rely on the general purpose computer market get fucked by OpenAI cornering the market on silicon wafers to try to dig a moat where there isn’t one. Motherboards, HDDs, probably even cases, now monitors, all jacking up prices because the overall market is fucked by RAM / SSD prices and line must go up. You’ll have a phone and like it /s.

Yeah, bit bitter because my usual strategy of staying a generation behind the edge backfired hard this time, and this was my PCIe 5 year, but still have a good PC that meets my needs, just waiting for sanity to return to the market.

Still monitors don’t need much RAM, and it’s a way wider market, doubt this one will stick.

“Your country is not allowed to access this resource.”
Well fuck you too.

After graphics cards, CPUs, RAM kits, and motherboards the next PC hardware to get a price surge are the monitors. PC builders can’t seem to catch a break these days as KTC now warns monitors are next to be affected by challenging market conditions.
KTC is a major display manufacturer, (a prominent Mini-LED OEM controlling ~17% of the Mini-LED market) and it along with AOC have issued public notices saying that the rising component and raw material costs are forcing them to increase prices across their entire product line.
In an official statement titled “Explanation and Commitment Regarding Product Price Adjustments,” KTC stated that global core component costs have gone up significantly, forcing them to adjust the prices of monitors. They can no longer absorb the price surge, says KTC.
Due to the continued rise in the prices of core components globally, the production cost of monitors has increased significantly, and we can no longer absorb this pressure on our own.
KTC took the uncommon step of explicitly urging prospective buyers to purchase monitors now rather than later, so they can lock in current prices before the new MSRPs take effect. A similar warning was issued by AOC earlier this month to its distributors, stating the company is forced to raise prices across its AGON gaming series lineup.
Unlike previous display price hikes that were driven primarily by panel glass shortages, the current pressure comes from supporting component inflation. Components like driver ICs, microchips, motherboards, and power modules are harder to come by and more expensive.
Another contributor to the current situation is the fact that display panel suppliers are reallocating portions of their production capacity to high-margin automotive and commercial display contracts.
Safe to say, the entire tech industry is in shambles right now thanks to AI.
Just today, we reported that budget GPU prices are about to see a major price hike in the second half of 2026. Meanwhile, RAM is already out of control and even though China’s CXMT might provide some relief, it is still a long way off.

I guess I better get a 3d printer while I have the chance to before those go up in price too, since I had been wanting one for a while.