ASUS has made it official, their prices are going up in 2026. In a year-end letter to customers (translated by VideoCardz), the company announced planned price adjustments for certain products starting January 5, 2026, citing cost pressure across the supply chain. If the language sounds familiar, that’s because its the same pit the industry has been circling, now framed squarely around AI.
According to ASUS, global demand remains strong, largely driven by AI adoption but upstream suppliers are reallocating capacity toward AI-focused compute, squeezing availability of core components like DRAM, NAND, and SSDs. Higher costs for manufacturing processes and structural supply gaps are now “industry-wide challenges,” not temporary disruptions. In other words, this is not being positioned as a short-term correction but as a new baseline.
The company says it has absorbed these pressures for an extended period, but that continued cost increases have reached the point where adjustments are unavoidable. ASUS frames the move as a way to preserve stable supply, maintain quality and service levels, and continue investing in R&D.
Original ASUS Letter – Untranslated
Notably, ASUS avoids listing specific SKUs or percentage increases in the announcement, instead referring to “certain product combinations.” Partners are told their ASUS representatives will reach out directly with details and configuration recommendations to minimize impact. That phrasing strongly suggests selective increases rather than blanket hikes, likely hitting systems most affected by memory and storage pricing first.
What stands out is how normalized this messaging has become. Price increases are no longer attributed to extraordinary events or temporary shocks, but to structural changes driven by AI demand and manufacturing economics. This is the quiet admission that AI is not just reshaping performance expectations, but also redefining cost structures across the entire ecosystem.
For customers, the takeaway is simple. 2026 hardware budgets should assume higher baseline costs, even outside explicitly “AI” systems. For the industry, ASUS’s letter isn’t an outlier, it’s a marker. When major vendors start issuing formal, forward-looking price adjustment notices, it is because the decision has already been made everywhere else.
Source: VideoCardz via SteamDeckHQ
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