Nvidia Reportedly Drops RTX 5080 24GB Launch
Nvidia has reportedly dropped the planned January 2027 launch of its RTX 5080 24GB in China because the memory chips were too expensive, ProPakistani reported. The company is expected to keep producing the existing 16GB model, which the new card was rumoured to replace.
The 24GB card would have used the same graphics processor as the existing RTX 5080, with eight 3GB GDDR7 memory chips in place of eight 2GB chips. Gazlog reported that each 3GB chip costs about three times as much as a 2GB chip.
Gizmochina cited an estimate that put the 24GB model at around $2,000, roughly double the 16GB Founders Edition’s $999 US launch price. Nvidia never announced a price for the 24GB card, and it has yet to publicly confirm the cancellation.
What killed the RTX 5080 24GB upgrade
The problem was the price of memory, not the graphics chip. The 24GB card was a memory upgrade: the same processor, more and denser memory chips, and a higher price to match. That plan only works if the memory chips are affordable. According to Gazlog, the 3GB GDDR7 chips cost about three times as much as the 2GB chips used in the current card.
Gizmochina’s estimate of around $2,000 for the 24GB card shows the scale of the problem. At double the $999 launch price of the 16GB Founders Edition, the card would have sat in a price range where very few buyers shop. Nvidia appears to have decided that a card almost nobody would buy was not worth building.
How the launch fell apart
Earlier reports pointed to a China launch as soon as December 2026. Gazlog said Nvidia’s board partners were due to receive the documents they needed to design and test their own circuit boards and cooling systems in October, but the material had yet to arrive by the end of the month.
Chinese supply-chain forum Board Channels later reported that Nvidia told its partners it had dropped the January launch plan and gave them no new date. The report concerns the China launch, and Nvidia has yet to publicly confirm the cancellation.
The sequence is familiar in the hardware industry: a product is planned, the parts are priced, the numbers do not work, and the launch slips until it is quietly dropped. What is unusual here is the reason. Graphics cards are usually cancelled because the chip is late or the demand is weak. This one was reportedly cancelled because memory got too expensive.
Could the 16GB card hit $3,000?
Nvidia’s US marketplace shows the $999 Founders Edition as out of stock, while partner versions are listed at roughly $1,800 to $2,500. The 16GB card remains in Nvidia’s lineup and is expected to stay in production.
Separately, MSI reportedly plans to raise distributor prices for some RTX 5080 cards in China by 1,300 to 8,000 yuan, or about $195 to $1,200. Wccftech estimates that some RTX 5080 cards could reach $3,000 at retail. That figure is a projection based on the reported increases.
Why memory costs so much
The memory shortage behind the cancellation is driven by demand from AI. Data centres building AI systems need vast amounts of memory, and the same factories that make graphics memory also supply them. When data centre orders rise, graphics card makers pay more or wait longer.
That pressure has already shown up in the wider market. The Nasdaq plunged as AI stocks lost value on fears about AI spending, and Nvidia’s own market value has swung sharply in recent weeks.
Nvidia is also in the middle of a leadership transition, with the board approaching Arm chief Rene Haas to succeed Jensen Huang. The company has faced questions about its dealings in China as well, and the reported cancellation adds a commercial problem to a crowded agenda.
Frequently asked questions
Has Nvidia cancelled the RTX 5080 24GB?
Nvidia has reportedly cancelled the planned January 2027 launch of the 24GB RTX 5080 in China. The company has not publicly confirmed the cancellation.
Why was the 24GB card reportedly cancelled?
The 3GB GDDR7 memory chips it needed cost about three times as much as the 2GB chips in the current card, which would have pushed the price to around $2,000, roughly double the 16GB model’s $999 launch price.
Will the 16GB RTX 5080 stay on sale?
Yes. The 16GB card remains in Nvidia’s lineup and is expected to stay in production, though partner versions are listed well above the $999 Founders Edition price.
How much could RTX 5080 prices rise in China?
MSI reportedly plans to raise distributor prices for some RTX 5080 cards in China by 1,300 to 8,000 yuan, about $195 to $1,200. Wccftech estimates some cards could reach $3,000 at retail, though that is a projection.
When was the 24GB card due to launch?
Earlier reports pointed to a China launch as soon as December 2026, with a January 2027 launch plan that Nvidia has now reportedly dropped, with no new date given.
