Frantic manufacturers are pushing RTX 5090s out the door to beat tariffs — MSI and Gigabyte lead race to get ahead of 'the biggest uncertainty for the rest of the year'

MSI GPUs
(Image credit: MSI)

PC manufacturers are rushing to ship as much stock as possible to beat the tariff truce between China and the U.S., which is set to end on July 9. According to Nikkei Asia, MSI chairman Joseph Hsu told reporters after its annual general meeting that the company’s inventory sells out as soon as it ships, so it’s racing against time and shipping whatever it can to its customers. Gigabyte also held its annual general meeting on the same day, and its chairman, Dandy Yeh, is facing the same situation — it's fulfilling rush orders aimed at beating tariff uncertainties.

President Donald Trump first announced tariffs for nearly every American trading partner in the first week of April, which were set to go fully live on April 9. However, he paused them all for nearly all countries for 90 days, except for China, which was slapped with a final 145% tariff after a series of escalations. This move had the trade representatives of numerous countries at the negotiating table with the U.S., and the hope is that each respective nation would have worked out a deal with Washington, D.C. to avoid getting their products taxed at high levels.

Nevertheless, there is no guarantee that a trade agreement would be in place by the deadline, so many companies, including MSI and Gigabyte, are rushing to have stock in place. President Trump has announced several import taxes since the start of his term — from the ‘Liberation Day’ tariffs that essentially put a tax on everything being imported into the country, to chip tariffs and everything in between. However, he’s also been putting these announced measures on pause right before they’re set to go live — that’s why many companies, especially those in the tech sector, are being battered by uncertainty.

The U.S. Trade Court even got involved, declaring several of Trump’s tariffs to be unlawful. However, the White House has appealed the ruling, and active tariffs will remain in place while the legal battle plays out. Elsewhere, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang called the president’s move ‘utterly visionary’.

As the July 9 deadline inches closer, companies are likely getting worried that the White House and other nations have made no announcements yet regarding any trade deals. So, they’re trying to hedge their bets by importing as much product as they can. A few companies did this before the first tariff deadline in April, with Apple shipping five extra planeloads to bolster its inventory the night before the tariffs were supposed to go live. This wasn't an option for MSI and Gigabyte, though, especially as Nvidia just launched the RTX 50-series GPUs and it was still ramping up manufacturing.

Hopefully, we see an announcement between the U.S. and the countries that manufacture most of its imported goods (like electronics) before the deadline passes, or that Trump extends the deadlines again if no agreement has been signed yet. The White House can also enact the tariffs that were previously announced, but that is a situation that many don’t want to see. Companies fear that these tariffs could lead to a decline in international trade, similar to what happened during the 1930s when the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930 worsened the Great Depression. This could, in turn, affect other economies, resulting in a global downturn.

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Jowi Morales
Contributing Writer

Jowi Morales is a tech enthusiast with years of experience working in the industry. He’s been writing with several tech publications since 2021, where he’s been interested in tech hardware and consumer electronics.

  • redgarl
    So, this is explaining the JPR numbers for shipments. AIBs accelerated their shipment of Nvidia expensive SKU to avoid tariffs.

    https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/nSkDfTNzwaWzFLD2nMQZ3F-1200-80.png
    Reply
  • autobahn
    Consumers have long been getting fleeced on top end GPU's. Now its just the US gov't fleecing us instead of greedy resellers and scalpers.
    Reply
  • steve15180
    The part I don't get is all of this uproar over tariffs raising prices, especially on the 5090, when the retailers, scalpers, AIB's have raised prices FAR above any tariff charges. The worst that can happen is the supply chain margins will come back to NORMAL.
    Reply
  • EzzyB
    redgarl said:
    So, this is explaining the JPR numbers for shipments. AIBs accelerated their shipment of Nvidia expensive SKU to avoid tariffs.

    https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/nSkDfTNzwaWzFLD2nMQZ3F-1200-80.png
    I wouldn't surprise me. There actually are some GPU's out there right now. They sell fast, but you can find them. I actually got a 5070 Ti for MSRP last week.

    The next weeks and months will tell if getting that GPU was a coup or if things settle down to a more "normal" state.
    Reply
  • acadia11
    Ok this is a market manipulation play, Trump has given you the algorithm, the system is in place, he’s letting you know the system if you “follow his brand of life” … the tariffs will be pushed back or an outright deal announced. Buy the dip ,sell the trip, to the moon!
    Reply
  • CaptRiker
    mfg's can do anything they like, at $3000+ I will NEVER buy another nvidia card.. my 4080 is it.. and that was like $1450 us/with tax over 2 years ago (6 mos before super came out :P)
    Reply
  • spongiemaster
    redgarl said:
    So, this is explaining the JPR numbers for shipments. AIBs accelerated their shipment of Nvidia expensive SKU to avoid tariffs.

    https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/nSkDfTNzwaWzFLD2nMQZ3F-1200-80.png
    No. Because 5000 uses the same node as 4000, Nvidia had to stop producing 4000 while they ramped up 5000 production. Normally they could continue producing the current gen while a different more advanced fab was ramping up the new generation. That's what caused their drop in Q4, 4000 shipments dropping off, and waiting on 5000 to build up stock for release. Things returned to normal in Q1 of this year.
    Reply
  • aberkae
    Cheapest 5090 available to purchase and in stock is $2759 for the past week by Asus tuf. FYI in the states.
    Reply
  • Marlin1975
    acadia11 said:
    Ok this is a market manipulation play, Trump has given you the algorithm, the system is in place, he’s letting you know the system if you “follow his brand of life” … the tariffs will be pushed back or an outright deal announced. Buy the dip ,sell the trip, to the moon!


    Yep; TACO.
    Reply
  • Roland Of Gilead
    Ah, don't worry too much. By the time 9th July comes around we'll have the deals. The very beautiful, amazing deals. All deals, everywhere! They say the deals will be the best deals of all time, in all of history. There will never be deals like these again 🙃
    Reply