Nvidia RTX 2000-series cards to get 10% increased MSRP thanks to Trump
WCCFTech sources claim that Trump's trade wars with the Chinese will impose increased tariffs for PC components in general and GPUs in particular. This will mostly affect the DIY market, which represents th majority of PC gamers who prefer to buy their components separately. However, prices for pre-built systems and laptops will not be influenced by any tariffs.
According to WCCFtech, Trump’s proposed 10% tariff will impact “$200B of goods that is scheduled to take effect on 10/1/2018.” The ongoing negotiations between the U.S. and China could lead Nvidia’s and AMD’s AIB partners to “try to move assembly and testing over to Taiwan in order to avoid the tariff, but most likely they would have to push back shipment lead times or else raise prices while they get it all sorted out.”
Additionally, the MSRPs could also be affected by inventory shortages caused by crypto miners that want to get their hands on the new cards in order to see the performance gains over the Pascal cards. Factoring in the tariffs and the problematic initial inventory, the RTX 2000-series from Nvidia cards could see US$100-200 added to the advertised MSRPs in the next few months.
One good aspect about Trump’s tariff is that it does not affect products that already are in stocks at U.S. retailers. As such, GTX 1000-series cards will not get increased prices. Even more so, since retailers are trying to get rid of their existing overstocks, these cards will see more price cuts.
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