PC Partner Warns Graphics Card Shortages Will Push Up PC Prices as AI Demand Drains Supply
Source: The Straits Times
If you were thinking of building a new desktop or upgrading your gaming rig later this year, the price tag may look very different from what it does today. The culprit isn't inflation or a weak economy — it's the same force reshaping Singapore's technology landscape: the AI buildout.
If you were thinking of building a new desktop or upgrading your gaming rig later this year, the price tag may look very different from what it does today. The culprit isn't inflation or a weak economy — it's the same force reshaping Singapore's technology landscape: the AI buildout. The companies racing to train and run large models are consuming so many advanced chips and so much memory that the consumer PC market is starting to feel the squeeze.
That warning came on Aug 14 from PC Partner Group, the Hong Kong-based, Singapore-listed maker of graphics cards and computer components. The company said graphics card availability is likely to deteriorate further in the coming months, with entry-level models hit hardest — a shortage that could raise average selling prices and make even budget desktops more expensive to build. Its first-half results showed the dynamic clearly: revenue rose 1.5 per cent to HK$6.45 billion (S$1.05 billion), but net profit more than doubled to HK$545.5 million as higher prices offset falling sales volumes. Average selling prices for its own-brand cards climbed 10.7 per cent year on year.
The shortages stretch well beyond graphics cards. PC Partner said lead times for central processing units, memory and other key components have become "significantly longer", disrupting production of its mini-PCs and other products. Media reports attribute the component crunch in part to intensifying demand from AI companies for advanced chips and memory to power their infrastructure — the same global dynamic that has pushed Singapore's semiconductor-linked stocks to record highs this year, with PC Partner's own shares up more than 243 per cent since January.
For consumers, the near-term picture is straightforward: expect fewer deals and steeper prices on PC hardware in the second half of 2026. But for Singapore's tech economy, the story is more layered. The supply squeeze is a reminder that the island's AI ambitions sit on a physical foundation — chips, memory and power — that is increasingly contested worldwide. It also explains why Singapore-listed component makers are repositioning: PC Partner plans to begin shipping GPU servers and AI-related products this half, betting that the demand crunch that squeezes consumers will be its next growth engine.
Why it matters for Singapore: A Singapore-listed company sitting at the intersection of the AI supply chain is a useful weathervane for how the global AI buildout reaches local shores. As AI infrastructure spending surges, the knock-on effects — component shortages, price inflation, and a pivot toward GPU servers — ripple through the businesses listed on SGX and the cost of technology for everyday Singaporeans. Watch whether PC Partner's AI product push translates into sustained earnings growth: it will signal how much of the AI boom is actually captured locally rather than merely consumed.
