MSI says PC market could fall 10% to 20%, gaming prices to rise 15% to 30%
© MSI MSI is preparing to raise prices across its gaming product line by 15% to 30%, according to Money UDN, which cited management comments from the company’s latest investor briefing. The report says the company expects higher average selling prices to offset lower shipment volumes this year.
MSI executives described 2026 as the toughest year the company has faced so far, pointing to severe memory shortages, rising SSD costs, and a gap in NVIDIA gaming GPU supply that it estimates at around 20% . The company expects the PC market to decline by 10% to 20%, which is worse than the roughly 10% contraction cited by some market researchers.
“This year is the toughest year the company has faced since its establishment. The PC industry is facing major challenges, mainly due to a severe memory shortage. In addition to Micron, SK hynix, and Samsung, MSI also has long-term partnerships with Taiwanese suppliers such as Nanya Technology (2408). NVIDIA’s GPU supply is also insufficient, with the shortfall estimated at 20%. As a result, he estimates that the PC market will decline by 10% to 20%, which is more severe than the 10% decline forecast by research firms.”
— Huang Jinqing via Money UDN (translation)
MSI continues to launch new GPU models despite supply constraints. Source: MSI
To protect margins, MSI plans to cut back on lower-end models and move more resources toward higher-end products. Money UDN says low-end models previously made up about 30% of the mix, and MSI now wants to focus more on mid-range and higher-tier products, with RTX 5060 and RTX 5070 class systems being mentioned.
MSI also says it is adjusting some motherboard plans around DDR4 because memory pricing has changed so sharply. According to the report, 16GB memory pricing was around $40 in the second quarter of last year, but has now moved to roughly $170 to $180, with some quotes reaching $200. The company also said 16GB DDR4 pricing is around $110 to $120, while DDR5 is at $170 to $180, pushing MSI to shift from an earlier DDR5-heavy mix toward more DDR4 support.
The company added that it holds around one to two months of memory safety stock and does not plan to chase volume at the low end. At the same time, and obviously, MSI is putting more weight behind its server business, where it is targeting annual revenue growth of 50% to 100% over the next three to five years.
Source: Money UDN
