ASUS Ends Production of RTX 5070 Ti and 5060 Ti 16GB

The high-end GPU market is facing a significant disruption as ASUS confirms it has stopped producing two popular 16GB graphics cards. The RTX 5070 Ti and RTX 5060 Ti 16GB have officially reached 'end of life' status, a direct result of the ongoing global memory supply crunch.

This development, reported by Hardware Unboxed, highlights the intense pressure on component availability. The shortage is driven by the booming AI industry, which is consuming vast quantities of memory, leaving consumer electronics manufacturers scrambling for supply. For PC builders and gamers, this marks a pivotal moment where hardware availability is being reshaped by macroeconomic forces.

According to recent reports, ASUS has explicitly communicated to Hardware Unboxed that the RTX 5070 Ti is currently facing a severe supply shortage. As a direct consequence, the company has placed the model into end of life status, signaling that no further production runs are planned. This is not a temporary pause but a definitive halt in manufacturing for this specific SKU.

The situation extends beyond just the 5070 Ti. ASUS also indicated that the RTX 5060 Ti 16GB is "almost done," with the company stating it no longer plans to produce that model going forward. Both GPUs are 16GB variants, which are notably more expensive to manufacture in the current economic climate due to the scarcity of memory modules.

"The 5070 Ti is 'no longer available to purchase from partners and distributors.'"

Retailers in Australia have corroborated this information, telling Hardware Unboxed that the 5070 Ti has vanished from their supply chains. They expect this unavailability to persist throughout at least the first quarter of the year, suggesting the shortage is not a short-term blip but a sustained challenge.

The root cause of this manufacturing halt is a massive shift in the global semiconductor market. The AI boom has created an insatiable demand for high-bandwidth memory (HBM) and other critical components from data center infrastructure companies. In response, major memory manufacturers have pivoted their production lines to prioritize these lucrative enterprise clients.

This strategic shift has had a cascading effect on consumer electronics. Regular offerings for consumer RAM kits, SSDs, and GPU VRAM have been deprioritized, leading to dramatically increased prices and severe shortages. In December, Micron Technology announced it would wind down its consumer-facing Crucial brand to focus exclusively on providing components to the AI industry, a clear indicator of where the market priorities now lie.

• AI data centers require massive memory bandwidth.
• Manufacturers are shifting capacity away from consumer goods.
• Prices for consumer RAM and VRAM have spiked.
• Supply chains for 16GB GPU models are severely constrained.

Historically, NVIDIA provided its board partners, like ASUS, with both the GPU die and the necessary memory to assemble graphics cards. However, recent rumors suggest the company has instructed partners to begin sourcing memory on their own, further complicating the supply chain in an already volatile market.

For the PC gaming community, the discontinuation of these 16GB models is particularly concerning. Many modern AAA games now demand more than 8GB of VRAM to run smoothly at high settings, especially at higher resolutions. The RTX 5070 Ti and 5060 Ti 16GB were positioned as sweet-spot options for enthusiasts building new systems or upgrading existing rigs.

With these models disappearing from the market, consumers are left with fewer high-VRAM choices. NVIDIA is reportedly shifting its focus toward 8GB models, including the RTX 5050, 5060, and 5060 Ti 8GB. While the 12GB RTX 5070 is expected to remain available for now, the trend suggests a contraction in accessible high-memory consumer GPUs.

ASUS stands as the first of NVIDIA’s add-in board (AIB) partners to publicly comment on the memory crunch. AIBs are responsible for manufacturing the vast majority of GPUs sold under the NVIDIA and AMD brands, making their production decisions a critical barometer for the industry's health.

Looking ahead, the future of these specific GPU models remains uncertain. While there might be a theoretical possibility of the RTX 5070 Ti and 5060 Ti 16GB returning later this year, industry analysis suggests this is unlikely. The economic incentives for manufacturers to prioritize high-margin AI components over consumer gaming cards are simply too strong.

The situation underscores a new reality for the hardware industry: consumer demand is now competing directly with the explosive growth of artificial intelligence. As data centers continue to expand, the competition for silicon and memory will likely intensify, potentially affecting the availability and pricing of future consumer electronics.

Neither NVIDIA nor ASUS had immediately responded to requests for comment at the time of the initial report. However, the silence from these major players, combined with the concrete actions taken by ASUS, paints a clear picture of a market under extreme stress.

The removal of the RTX 5070 Ti and 5060 Ti 16GB from production is more than just a product update; it is a symptom of a larger economic shift. The AI industry's hunger for memory is fundamentally altering the landscape of consumer hardware availability.

For now, gamers seeking high-VRAM cards may need to act quickly or look to the secondary market, as the supply of new 16GB models from this generation appears to be ending. This event serves as a stark reminder of how interconnected the global tech ecosystem is, where a surge in one sector can create immediate ripples in another.