Shenzhen's Huaqiangbei is flooded with PC hardware inventory, but sales have stalled. Despite shelves full of memory, SSDs, and GPUs, the market remains stuck in a standoff.

Memory and SSD prices have dropped slightly from their recent peaks, but only by RMB 20 to 50. They remain near historical highs. Meanwhile, sales volume has fallen 20% to 30% since October. The strange part? Factory prices are still going up, while some channel sellers are cutting prices just to get cash back.

The reason is inventory. Distributors stockpiled heavily during the last price rally. With retail prices staying high, DIY demand has cooled. Smaller sellers are now trying to clear stock, but they cannot discount much because their costs were so high. The result is a market where prices look high, but actual transactions are few and far between.

Graphics cards are a different story

Unlike memory, GPU prices keep climbing. AI compute is absorbing memory capacity, and consumer graphics cards remain in tight supply. The RTX 5090's official guide price is around RMB 15,000, but channel prices have reached RMB 50,000 to 60,000. Mid-range models like the RTX 5080 and 5070 Ti are also rising, and the RTX 5060 has increased by over RMB 1,000.

Big distributors are holding stock and waiting for higher prices. Smaller sellers are afraid to buy in. The market is active on paper, but actual purchases are thin.

The bottom line

For anyone building a PC, the advice is simple. Do not rush. Memory and GPU prices are unlikely to drop sharply in the near term. Buy what you need, not what you think will hold value. And remember that a few stores cutting prices does not mean the whole market is entering a downturn.