You may have seen a few more NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 GPUs on store shelves and in stock lately. After the initial rush to purchase this GPU, rapidly increasing prices (on custom models) kept most other buyers at bay. Even so, NVIDIA's add-in board (AIB) partners are reportedly scrambling to ship even more GeForce RTX 5090 GPUs to the U.S., with a very valid reason.
No, it's not to compete with the Nintendo Switch 2, but to avoid further tariffs that will be implemented next month. According to Joseph Hsu, who is the MSI chairman, MSI has been building up as many GPUs as possible in inventory to better weather any significant tariff issues that may arise in the near future. Gigabyte, another major NVIDIA partner, is also trying its best to push more GPUS through the pipeline into the US market, according to a Nikkei Asia report.
The important date to remember is July 9th, which is the expiration deadline for the pause in tariffs set earlier.
More GPUs have been in stock lately, will there be even more?
While another change is very possible before or on July 9th, uncertainty is the resounding theme of the past few months when it comes to tariffs. The GeForce RTX 5090 has been affected as deeply as any tech product can be. It was already facing fierce demand from gamers just based on its chart-topping performance, as NVIDIA's flagship GPUs have traditionally had strong launches.
It then worsens when you factor in all of the AI and workstation users who can make use of the GeForce RTX 5090's performance. The massive 32GB of GDDR7 VRAM and strong specs across all fields makes this a very desirable GPU, even at high asking prices (it's still cheaper than a lot of high-end professional-grade graphics card). All of these factors combine to throw it in the mix of tariff woes, only making its pricing even more substantial.
It therefore makes sense that MSI, Gigabyte, and other AIB partners will rush to bring as many as possible over in order to prepare for more tariffs, as the report claims. While GPUs traditionally have very slim profit margins, it would seem like if there is headroom for companies to extract more profit from, the RTX 5090 is a good candidate, so long as tariffs don't ruin the party.
The immediate future may be bleak for GPU buyers of all ilk, not just the RTX 5090. While stock may improve, increased pricing looks like it may also be here to stay.
