AI greed has started eating the enthusiast PC market, with motherboard sales sinking as chipmakers chase fatter server margins.
According to Tom’s Hardware, motherboard sales are collapsing as AI-driven shortages push up prices for major PC components, with memory modules and storage drives taking the worst hit during the past six months.
Those shortages are being worsened by Nvidia, Intel and AMD, which have cut consumer chip production to churn out more AI processors. The AI infrastructure binge is creating shortages for Chipzilla and AMD CPUs, along with high-end Macs, as interest in agentic AI goes daft.
PC users without bottomless wallets are delaying upgrades and keeping their current machines running longer. Motherboard makers are now feeling the pain, with Digitimes reporting that the big four have cut their sales targets.
Asus sold 15 million motherboards in 2025 but shipped only slightly more than 5 million in the first half of 2026. It will need a serious shove to reach 10 million units by year’s end, which would mean a 33 per cent year-on-year fall.
Gigabyte and MSI sold 11.5 million and 11 million motherboards last year, respectively. Their internal forecasts for 2026 have been cut to 9 million for Gigabyte and 8.4 million for MSI, representing drops of 22 per cent and 24 per cent, respectively.
ASRock looks set to take the biggest thump. Its shipments are projected to fall 37 per cent, from 4.3 million in 2025 to just 2.7 million by the end of the year.
That points to a 28 per cent contraction across the overall motherboard market, at least among the four largest makers.
AI demand for memory, storage and processors is the main reason for the sales slide. Massive buying by AI outfits has left PC builders fighting over a smaller pile of components, which means higher prices all round.
AMD is still using the AM5 socket for its latest processors, while Chipzilla’s Nova Lake, which is expected to use LGA 1954, is not due until later this year.
The mess is made worse by Nvidia skipping a refresh of the RTX 50 Super series this year. Rumours claim the RTX 60 series will not arrive until 2028, giving PC builders another reason to sit on their wallets.
Despite the sales fall, these firms are hardly begging for loose change. Asus, Gigabyte and ASRock have shifted some production towards AI servers, letting them grab a slice of the cash hyperscalers are throwing at data centres.
Those building a new PC from scratch may still find decent motherboard bundle deals, especially as retailers try to shift stock. That might save a few quid, although it will not fully offset pricier memory, storage and processors.
