In the past year, many US companies were granted tariff concessions, which the 2018 and 2019 postponed punitive tariffs against Chinese imports. Hardware manufacturers, such as graphics cards and mainboards, benefited from this. These tariff concessions expired on New Year’s Eve, as a result, many US imports from China since January 1st are up to 25 Percent more expensive.

In a Facebook group, an Asus employee drew attention to the problem and an official increase in the US recommended retail price of Graphics cards and mainboards promised. The group is closed; the website Anandtech shows a screenshot. Other manufacturers have not announced any price increases, but are allowed to introduce them tacitly.

Not yet in the EU The price increases initially only affect customers in the USA – so far, there have been no abnormalities in German retail. The adjustments do give an outlook on what could happen if the US and China spread the mutual trade war. The EU has already imposed punitive tariffs on the first US products in response to the unauthorized US subsidies for the aircraft manufacturer Boeing.

Videocardz draws attention to Asus’ official US store: The GeForce RTX’s own models 3080 have been since the end of about 70 to 80 US dollars have become more expensive. The ROG GeForce RTX 3080 Strix now costs 930 US dollars, the TUF gaming variant 700.

Aside from punitive tariffs, rising production costs, which Asus also addresses, could result in higher prices in this country. Because of the limited supply, many graphics cards are available – for example all variants from the current generations Nvidia GeForce RTX 3000 and AMD Radeon RX 6000 – already overpriced. Other PC components, however, still keep their previous prices.

( mma)