ASUS is getting ready to slap buyers with a proper price jolt.
The firm has warned that one of the biggest PC price rises in recent times is on the way, with DRAM shortages doing the damage and pushing up the bills of materials.
The wider PC industry has been under pressure since memory got tight, yet vendors held off big increases by leaning on stockpiles built up over previous quarters.
That cushion is thinning, and ASUS, Acer and others are now struggling to secure enough DRAM supply without paying through the nose.
A report by UDN says ASUS plans to hike PC prices by up to 30 per cent, and while it is limited to Taiwan’s consumer market, it could spread to other regions.
Manufacturers are having a rough time keeping supply chain pieces in place because memory shortages are chewing into margins, and other problems keep piling in.
Rising SSD prices are part of the mess, and CPU and GPU shortages are forcing PC makers to juggle availability just to keep shelves stocked.
In that sort of tangle, price increases stop looking optional and start looking like the only way ASUS can keep its margins from melting.
A previous report warned the budget PC segment could almost ‘disappear’ in the coming years as this squeeze drags on.
The same view suggests PC market shipments could shrink by double digits this year, which is grim news for anyone hoping for cheaper rigs.
To keep the lights on through shortages, vendors are reaching for the blunt instrument, higher prices, and gamers get to pay for the privilege.
ASUS, Acer, Dell and plenty of others have been diversifying into server ODM work to grab a slice of the AI frenzy.
Some manufacturers are signalling consumers should buy sooner rather than later, because waiting could mean getting clobbered by the next round of increases.
