GeForce RTX 3060 Prices Soar in Japan Amid Semiconductor Shortages

NVIDIA's last-generation graphics accelerator, the GeForce RTX 3060, has seen a sharp price increase in Japanese electronics retailers. The non-reference MSI model, GeForce RTX 30 Ventus 2X 12G OC, was priced at 85,980 yen including taxes, equivalent to approximately $580 or ₴24,000.

This is significantly higher than the budget MSI graphics adapter GeForce RTX 30 Ventus 2X 6G OC, which is offered for 53,980 yen at the same store. The current generation GeForce RTX 5070 graphics cards are sold at prices ranging from 154,800 to 198,800 yen.

Analysts attribute the high price of the four-year-old model to its 12 GB of GDDR6 video memory, which remains in demand due to rising semiconductor component prices and interest in running basic neural network tasks locally.