Nvidia is ending a long run of annual gaming GPU launches. 2026 marks the first year without a fresh GeForce lineup since the company’s founding, reflecting how far the company has shifted away from the market that helped establish it. Gaming once defined Nvidia’s business, but the center of gravity has moved to chips for Artificial Intelligence computing, where profits are far stronger.
The company’s computer and networking division, which makes Artificial Intelligence chips, averaged a 69% profit margin over three years. The graphics segment aimed at gamers only managed 40%. A single Blackwell Artificial Intelligence chip costs up to 40,000, while gaming cards sell for 299 to 1,999. That economic gap has made gaming a less attractive priority even as longtime PC players grow frustrated with fewer advances and weaker product availability.
AMD and Intel have not been able to turn Nvidia’s pullback into a clear opening because both are running into the same supply problem. AMD’s Radeon RX 9000 series saw price increases between 10% and 17% across all models. The flagship Radeon RX 9070 XT jumped 17%, while the Radeon RX 9060 XT 8GB rose a more modest 10%. The Radeon RX 9060 XT 16GB landed at 14% because it carries twice the memory. AMD said it has worked with memory suppliers to keep prices more reasonable, but indicated that effort is becoming harder to sustain during the shortage.
Intel’s position is even weaker. The company had planned to launch an Arc B770 gaming card built on its BMG-31 chip with 32 Xe Cores and 16GB of memory. Reports pointed to a potential first quarter 2026 release. That launch is now cancelled. Instead, Intel will release the Arc Pro B70 workstation card with 32GB of memory, aimed at Artificial Intelligence work rather than gaming. Intel dropped the gaming version because of a “lack of financial viability.”
The underlying pressure is a worsening shortage of memory chips across the industry. Nvidia plans to cut gaming GPU production by up to 40% because it cannot get enough memory chips. Gartner predicts the shortage will push computer prices up 17% this year, causing PC shipments to drop 10.4%. The firm expects entry-level consumer PCs to disappear entirely by 2028. High-performance Artificial Intelligence processors require High Bandwidth Memory, which takes about four times as many silicon wafers to produce compared to regular memory chips, leaving less supply available for mainstream consumer hardware and deepening the squeeze on gaming products.
