Copper, Silver, And Tin Price Spikes Trigger PSU And CPU Cooler Cost Warning

The rumor mill is spinning once again, and if what we've heard is true, we could soon see a pricing increase of 6-10% for CPU coolers and power supplies. While this thankfully isn't in the same ballpark as the ongoing RAM crisis or developing NAND shortage, it's still not great news if it proves true. That's still a huge if, though, since third parties corroborating this story have yet to emerge. Per a letter shared by Videocardz, originally found by "yuukicrystal" and apparently originating from Chinese manufacturing partner Guangzhou Xinhongzheng Electronic Technology Co., Ltd., these price increases are expected to begin in February, stemming from rising costs of copper, silver, and tin. The machine-translated letter is posted below. 


With that said, it's time to apply some skepticism to this story. For one, even if it's true, many commentators have pointed out that this sounds like rather blatant price gouging, especially since PCs aren't actually the largest consumers of these raw materials. Frankly, copper and tin are such common metals that these price increases applying to only the PC space would rather obviously be targeted at capitalizing on already-rising prices for other components. Hopefully, things don't play out that way, but anything could happen.

Secondly, this letter seems to be private communications from a company whose connections in the industry are at best unclear. While a company with this name does indeed exist and operate out of China, a verified connection to CPU cooler or PSU manufacturers has not been found, and there's no definitive proof that this letter was actually sent out to begin with. Even if it was, its nature as private communication rather than a public announcement does warrant mention, especially with phrasing like "seizing opportunities is our rule for winning" and the promotional tone urging partners to buy, buy, buy as soon as possible.

However, an analysis of copper, silver, and tin pricing over the past five years does indicate that silver and copper are climbing in price, just at broadly expected rates. Tin, while having climbed to a higher peak than in the past two years, also has yet to match 2022-era pricing. Could that amount to a 6-10% cost increase for PSUs and an up to 8% price hike for CPU coolers? I give it a solid "maybe", but until prices start surging, I'm taking this one with a grain of salt.

Image Credit: Michael Schwarzenberger on Pixabay, Videocardz