AMD says the RAM shortage is the biggest risk to Radeon pricing in 2026, but strategic supplier partnerships could help support its GPU business
AMD says memory costs will decide how close Radeon graphics cards can stay to suggested pricing in 2026. In an interview with Gizmodo (published today) during CES 2026, AMD Ryzen VP David McAfee described DRAM pricing and supply as the main constraint for building graphics cards that land at planned price points.
AMD is working with long-term DRAM suppliers and add-in card partners to secure supply and keep board pricing in check. McAfee also said the company cannot predict where memory pricing goes next, and that makes it harder to promise anything firm for the retail market.
“ We have very strategic partnerships over many, many years with all the DRAM manufacturers to make sure that both the amount of supply that we need and the economics of what we’re able to buy from them are what we can support in our graphics business,”
— AMD Ryzen VP David McAfee
However, the Ryzen lead admitted that he can’t predict the future. He added that AMD was trying to work with the AIC (add-in card) manufacturers to maintain prices close to what AMD suggests.
— Gizmondo
Frame generation and gaming handheld also discussed
AMD also addressed frame generation, which remains a point of debate for PC players due to latency and visual artifacts. McAfee said AMD plans to move carefully with multi-frame generation under FSR Redstone, and to prioritize community feedback as the feature set expands over time.
The pricing pressure is already visible in the market. Gizmodo notes Radeon RX 9070 XT carried a suggested $600 price in 2025, but it rarely sold at that level and only got close much later, which leaves buyers worried about what happens if memory pricing stays elevated in 2026.
As an example, RX 9070 XT Taichi White which launched this week, carries a price of $819 , which is $220 above MSRP. A custom model launching 10 months after AMD SKU introduction.
Source: Gizmondo
