ASUS RTX 5070 Ti Not Discontinued: Supply Shortage vs. EOL Clarification [2025]

Introduction: The Great GPU Clarification Chaos

Last week, the GPU market got its wires crossed in a way that perfectly encapsulates how information travels (or doesn't) in the tech industry. A major GPU manufacturer walked back a statement about discontinuing two of its graphics card models, calling the original claim "incomplete information." But here's where it gets interesting: the problem wasn't necessarily that the company was lying. It was that nobody involved—not the PR rep, not the YouTubers, not the retailers—was actually saying the same thing.

This situation reveals something much deeper about the current state of the GPU market. We're not just dealing with product availability issues. We're dealing with a fundamentally confused messaging problem that stems from real, tangible supply chain problems that ripple through every layer of distribution.

The stakes here matter more than they initially appear. GPU pricing and availability affect not just gamers, but content creators, AI developers, data scientists, and professionals building everything from streaming rigs to machine learning models. When manufacturers change their narrative on product discontinuation, it creates uncertainty that cascades through the entire ecosystem. Are these cards going away? Are they just hard to find? Will prices keep climbing? These aren't abstract questions—they determine purchasing decisions worth thousands of dollars.

In this article, we're going to unpack what actually happened, why the confusion exists in the first place, what it means for GPU availability in the coming months, and what you should actually do if you're trying to buy one of these cards right now. We'll also explore the broader supply chain dynamics that created this mess, the role of memory costs in driving the shortage, and what manufacturers are actually telling retailers versus what they're telling consumers.

TL; DR

• ASUS didn't discontinue the RTX 5070 Ti or 5060 Ti 16GB, but said "incomplete information" was shared, creating confusion about whether they were ending production according to ASUS's official statement.
• Memory supply constraints are the real culprit, temporarily limiting production of these higher-VRAM models across the industry as analyzed by IDC.
• Retailers in multiple markets report these cards are already hard or impossible to find, even though ASUS says they're still making them as reported by PC Guide.
• AI boom demand for memory chips has driven memory costs up 40–60% year-over-year, making higher-VRAM GPUs more expensive to produce according to WebProNews.
• First quarter 2025 is when supply is expected to stabilize, but availability could remain spotty through Q2 as forecasted by Investing News.

What Actually Happened: The Timeline That Changed Everything

On a Wednesday, a well-respected YouTube channel dedicated to hardware testing and benchmarking—Hardware Unboxed—published a video claiming that ASUS had placed the RTX 5070 Ti and RTX 5060 Ti 16GB models into "end-of-life status." The video was based on direct communication with ASUS PR representatives. This wasn't speculation or reading between the lines. This was allegedly what the company told them explicitly.

Within hours, that video generated headlines across tech publications. End-of-life meant discontinuation. Discontinuation meant these cards were going away. If you wanted one, you'd better buy now.

Then came the reversal. ASUS released a press statement saying that Hardware Unboxed had received "incomplete information" from an ASUS PR representative. The company stated unequivocally: "The GeForce RTX 5070 Ti and GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16 GB have not been discontinued or designated as end-of-life (EOL). ASUS has no plans to stop selling these models" according to their official statement.

But here's the catch. ASUS didn't dispute that supply is actually constrained. They confirmed it. They said the issue was memory supply shortages affecting production output and inventory levels. The clarification wasn't about whether there's a real problem—it was about what category the problem falls into.

Hardware Unboxed then released a pinned comment acknowledging the contradiction. ASUS had explicitly told them one thing. Now ASUS was saying the opposite. But the channel also verified their original reporting: Australian retailers genuinely cannot get stock of the 5070 Ti. They expect this situation to persist through at least Q1 2025 as noted by Startup News.

So who was right? Both of them. And neither of them. That's the actual story.

The Supply Shortage vs. End-of-Life Distinction: Why It Matters

Understanding the difference between these two terms is essential because they have wildly different implications.

End-of-life (EOL) means a product is being phased out. The manufacturer is no longer producing it. They might sell remaining stock, but they're not making more. There's a finish line. Once it's gone, it's gone. EOL is a deliberate business decision—sometimes due to new products replacing older ones, sometimes due to profitability concerns, sometimes because the company wants to exit a market segment.

Supply shortage, on the other hand, is temporary (in theory). It means the manufacturer wants to keep making the product, but external factors are preventing full production. The moment those constraints ease, production ramps back up. Supply shortages come with an implied expectation of recovery.

These distinctions matter enormously for different stakeholders. Retailers need to know if they should still stock the product. Consumers need to know if they're in a race against discontinuation or just waiting for inventory to replenish. Investors need to know if a product is on its way out or facing temporary headwinds.

ASUS's position was that the situation falls into the second category. Memory supply constraints are real, production output is reduced, inventory is tight—but the company plans to keep making these cards. The moment memory availability improves, production should increase. The company's partnership with memory suppliers will be activated, stock levels will normalize, and availability will improve as discussed by TechRadar.

In theory, this is accurate. In practice, it's considerably more complicated.

The Memory Crisis: Why GPU Production Is Actually Bottlenecked

The root cause of this entire situation isn't a mysterious supplier disagreement or a secret discontinuation plan. It's memory. Specifically, it's the cost and scarcity of VRAM chips used in graphics cards.

GPUs fundamentally need memory. A graphics card with 8GB of VRAM is different from one with 16GB, which is different from one with 24GB. More memory means better performance for certain workloads. It also means higher manufacturing costs. This is why cards with higher VRAM are more expensive to produce—you need to buy more memory chips to assemble them.

For the past 18 months, memory chip costs have been in flux due to multiple converging pressures. The artificial intelligence boom has created enormous demand for high-bandwidth memory (HBM) and standard GDDR6X memory. Nvidia, AMD, and every other GPU manufacturer suddenly needed significantly more memory chips. At the same time, memory manufacturers like Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron were rebalancing their production toward higher-margin products used in AI accelerators as reported by TechPowerUp.

This created a shortage of standard memory chips used in consumer GPUs. ASUS, as a manufacturer, now faces a choice: spend premium prices on memory chips to maintain production of 16GB and higher-VRAM cards, or reduce production of these models and focus on lower-VRAM variants that use less expensive memory.

The RTX 5070 Ti with 16GB of VRAM is the exact type of card that gets hit hardest by memory supply constraints. It's premium, it requires expensive memory, and it's competing for limited memory supply against enthusiast products that command higher margins.

ASUS's decision (if we can even call it that) to reduce production wasn't a deliberate discontinuation choice. It was a response to real economic constraints. But when you tell retailers that supply is constrained, they interpret that as "this product is going away." And when you tell PR people you're dealing with supply issues, they sometimes communicate it as "end-of-life."

This is where the messaging collapsed.

What the Retailers Actually Know: Ground Truth from Distribution Channels

Hardware Unboxed didn't pull their original reporting out of thin air. They spoke to resellers in Australia—people who actually distribute these cards to stores and direct consumers. These resellers said that the RTX 5070 Ti is currently unavailable from ASUS's distribution partners. They don't expect restocks through at least March 2025 as noted by Ars Technica.

This is different from saying "ASUS is discontinuing this product." But it's also different from saying "supply is temporarily tight." It's saying "this product is not available to purchase right now, and we don't know when that will change."

Distributors sit at a crucial point in the supply chain. They receive products from manufacturers, hold inventory, and allocate stock to retailers. When a distributor can't get a product from the manufacturer, it usually signals one of two things: either the manufacturer has severely constrained production, or they've decided to prioritize other channels (direct-to-consumer sales, major retailer exclusives, etc.).

In this case, resellers report that ASUS explicitly told them the constraint is supply-driven, not channel-driven. The manufacturer is producing less because they can't source enough memory at reasonable prices. But that also means retailers can't order more stock to fulfill consumer demand.

This creates a peculiar situation: the manufacturer says they're not discontinuing the product, but the distribution channel says the product isn't available and won't be available in the foreseeable future. Both statements can be simultaneously true. The product isn't discontinued. It's just not being manufactured in quantities sufficient to meet demand.

The AI Boom's Ripple Effect: How Chat GPT Broke GPU Pricing

To understand why memory has become so scarce, you need to understand the demand shock that hit the semiconductor industry in late 2022 and never really stopped.

When OpenAI released Chat GPT, it instantly became the fastest-growing consumer application in history. Within two months, it had 100 million users. Every tech company—Microsoft, Google, Meta, Amazon, dozens of startups—suddenly needed to build or expand their AI infrastructure. This required enormous quantities of GPUs as highlighted by Nvidia News.

Nvidia's data center GPU business, which had been growing steadily, suddenly became the most profitable segment in the company. Demand for Nvidia's highest-end chips exceeded supply by massive margins. Prices for chips that had

But there was a bottleneck: memory. These GPUs need high-bandwidth memory. AI workloads are memory-intensive. You can't run a large language model on limited VRAM. So memory chip manufacturers ramped production, but they had to make a choice about how to allocate their output.

Memory manufacturers, being rational economic actors, sell to the highest bidder. Data center GPU buyers can afford premium prices. Consumer GPU buyers cannot. So memory output skewed toward data center applications. Consumer GPU memory became scarce.

At the same time, memory prices climbed. In 2023, GDDR6X memory costs increased 30–40% year-over-year. By 2024, they'd climbed another 20–35%. This means the cost to manufacture a 16GB consumer GPU increased substantially, reducing profit margins even if the retail price stayed the same.

GPU manufacturers facing reduced memory availability had to make uncomfortable choices. Do you:

1. Maintain production volumes of all SKUs by accepting lower profit margins?
2. Reduce production of lower-margin models to focus on higher-margin products?
3. Use premium-priced memory to maintain production of high-VRAM models?
4. Pause production of certain SKUs until memory prices stabilize?

ASUS chose option 4 for the RTX 5070 Ti and 5060 Ti 16GB. That's not a discontinuation. It's a pause. But try explaining that to retailers when they can't get stock.

The Margin Squeeze: Why Manufacturers Are Being Forced Into These Choices

GPU manufacturing is not a high-margin business for reference card manufacturers like ASUS. Here's why.

Nvidia designs the chip and sets suggested retail prices. ASUS manufactures and sells the actual physical product. But the relationship is asymmetrical. Nvidia controls the brand, the technology roadmap, and the decision about what the suggested retail price should be.

ASUS, as a board partner, gets a bill of materials (BOM) cost from Nvidia. They add their own components—power delivery, cooling, custom PCB, etc.—and a margin. If Nvidia's chipset costs

But if memory costs jump 40%, that changes everything. If memory costs rise from

At that compression point, it stops making economic sense to manufacture the product. The capital expenditure to run production lines, the overhead costs, the supply chain management—none of it pencils out for 5% margins. Manufacturers have to make a choice: either reduce production and focus on products with healthier margins, or discontinue the SKU entirely.

ASUS chose the reduction path rather than the discontinuation path. But here's the thing: from a distributor's or retailer's perspective, a production reduction that lasts 6+ months looks and feels like a discontinuation. The practical outcome is nearly identical.

Market Reactions: Why This Matters Beyond the Tech Enthusiast Bubble

When the original Hardware Unboxed video dropped, the GPU market reacted. Used RTX 5070 Ti prices on secondary markets ticked upward. Some retailers showed stock status changes. Consumers started panicking about whether they should buy now or wait.

This reaction itself reveals something important: GPU pricing is already unstable. The market is priced with significant uncertainty baked in. Any signal that availability might tighten is enough to move prices and consumer behavior.

For gaming enthusiasts, this means different things depending on your position. If you already own a high-end GPU, this barely affects you. If you're planning to upgrade, the confusion creates decision paralysis. Do you buy now at possibly inflated prices because supply might tighten? Or do you wait and risk paying even higher prices if they become scarce?

For content creators and professionals, the stakes are higher. A content creator running a rendering farm or a data scientist training models needs GPU capacity. If they can't source the cards they need, their project timelines slip. If they buy at inflated prices, their project costs increase. The confusion and supply disruption directly impacts their business.

For small studios and startups building AI applications, this is even more critical. They might need GPUs to develop and test their products. If they can't get the specs they need at reasonable prices, they might pivot to cloud computing (which is more expensive at scale) or abandon their projects entirely.

ASUS's Damage Control: Why the Clarification Felt Like a Non-Denial Denial

ASUS's press release attempting to clarify the situation inadvertently reveals something about how modern corporations communicate with the public.

The company said that Hardware Unboxed received "incomplete information from an ASUS PR representative." This phrasing is interesting. It doesn't say the PR representative lied. It doesn't say Hardware Unboxed misunderstood. It says the information was "incomplete."

What does incomplete mean in this context? Here are the possibilities:

1. The PR rep told them there's a supply shortage but didn't explain that it's temporary
2. The PR rep said "end-of-life status" but didn't clarify what that actually means operationally
3. The PR rep confirmed that production is constrained but didn't mention the company's long-term plans
4. The PR rep gave outdated information
5. The PR rep actually told them something different, and there's been a miscommunication

ASUS never clarified which of these it was. They just stated the product isn't being discontinued and offered their own characterization of the supply constraint as temporary.

Here's where corporate communications strategy becomes evident. By calling it "incomplete information," ASUS can walk back the narrative without accusing anyone of lying. They're not saying Hardware Unboxed is wrong. They're saying the ASUS employee who provided the information didn't give them the full context.

But that's a weird thing to do if you've got good systems in place. Major manufacturers have PR managers, crisis communication procedures, and official talking points. An off-the-cuff statement to a YouTube channel that contradicts your official press release suggests either: (a) the employee genuinely misspoke or gave outdated information, or (b) there was internal disagreement about how to handle the situation.

Either way, it signals organizational confusion. And organizational confusion in a manufacturer doesn't inspire confidence in consumers.

What This Means for GPU Buyers Right Now: The Practical Reality

If you're trying to buy an RTX 5070 Ti or 5060 Ti 16GB right now, here's what you're actually dealing with:

In most major markets, these cards are either out of stock or available only at premium prices. The shortage isn't theoretical. It's real and immediate. ASUS's clarification doesn't change the fact that you can't buy these cards in many regions.

Waiting for prices to normalize might be a losing strategy. Memory prices are expected to remain elevated through Q2 2025. Even if ASUS ramps production, retail prices might not drop significantly until Q3 or Q4. If you need the hardware now, waiting could mean spending 6+ months without the capability you need.

Alternative options include:

• Buying lower-VRAM variants (8GB models) that are more readily available
• Considering previous-generation cards (RTX 4070 Ti, RTX 4070 Super) that have better supply
• Exploring different manufacturers (MSI, EVGA, Gigabyte might have different stock situations in your region)
• Looking at AMD's offerings, which might have different memory configurations and availability
• Considering cloud computing options if the GPU need is project-based rather than ongoing

For professional users, the supply uncertainty actually makes it more important to lock in hardware now rather than later. If you have a project timeline, you need to know your compute resources are available. Betting on prices dropping while waiting for availability is a high-risk strategy.

The Broader Industry Context: Memory Pricing in 2025

ASUS's supply constraint isn't unique to ASUS. This is an industry-wide issue affecting all GPU manufacturers.

Nvidia is managing similar constraints with its consumer GPU lineup, though the company has more pricing power and can potentially negotiate better terms with memory suppliers. AMD is also reporting memory supply challenges for its Radeon GPUs. Even Intel, which is new to the discrete GPU market, is prioritizing lower-VRAM models.

Memory prices are expected to ease in the second half of 2025, but "ease" is relative. Industry analysts expect memory prices to stabilize at levels 15–25% higher than 2022 prices. This means GPU retail prices, even after normalization, will be higher than they were pre-AI boom.

The economics of GPU production have fundamentally shifted. Manufacturers learned during the pandemic and subsequent shortage periods that demand for GPUs far exceeds the supply they thought would be necessary. They're building out more manufacturing capacity, but that takes time. And the new normal is probably a market with tighter margins between supply and demand.

Historical Precedent: The 2020-2021 GPU Shortage and What It Taught Us

We've seen this movie before. The GPU shortage of 2020–2021 was caused by different factors—cryptocurrency mining demand, pandemic-driven supply chain disruptions, and console scarcity creating cross-demand for chips—but the dynamic was similar.

Manufacturers made statements about eventual normalization. Retailers reported that stock was unavailable. Consumers faced impossibly high prices or long wait lists. Manufacturers eventually clarified that products weren't being discontinued, just that supply was constrained.

The 2020–2021 shortage lasted about 18 months from peak severity to reasonable normalization. By mid-2022, GPU availability had returned to normal levels. Prices dropped. The market reset.

But the lesson manufacturers learned was clear: demand can exceed supply by shocking margins. The willingness to pay for GPUs is dramatically higher than they'd estimated. Nvidia took that lesson and it fundamentally changed their business strategy. They shifted investment toward data center GPUs (where margins are higher and demand is more predictable) and de-emphasized consumer GPU development.

ASUS and other board partners learned a different lesson: being dependent on a single chipset supplier creates risk. When that supplier's components become scarce, you can't make products, regardless of your market demand.

These historical lessons are playing out in real-time. The 2025 memory constraint is part of the ongoing market adjustment following the AI boom. It will resolve, but the resolution might take 12–18 months.

Supply Chain Fragility: What This Reveals About Hardware Manufacturing

The entire saga—the miscommunication, the supply constraints, the half-clarifications—reveals something fundamental about how hardware gets manufactured and distributed at scale.

Modern supply chains are optimized for efficiency and cost reduction, not resilience. Manufacturers maintain minimal buffer stock. They order components just-in-time. This works beautifully when supply and demand are stable. It falls apart when either fluctuates unexpectedly.

ASUS manufactures GPUs based on orders they receive from distributors and retailers. They don't maintain months of inventory sitting in warehouses (that's expensive). So when memory becomes scarce and expensive, they can't just dip into a buffer stock. They have to reduce orders to memory suppliers, which means producing fewer GPUs.

Distributors, in turn, operate on similar principles. They might have 1–2 weeks of stock on hand, not months. So when ASUS reduces production, distributors quickly run out of inventory. Retailers then start showing things as "out of stock" or "backorder," which cascades to the consumer.

The entire system is a just-in-time waterfall, and a disruption at any point ripples downstream. Memory supply disruption hits memory suppliers, then component manufacturers, then GPU manufacturers, then distributors, then retailers, then consumers. It takes weeks for a supply constraint to fully propagate through all these layers.

What's remarkable is that despite all this infrastructure for managing supply chains, the communication between layers breaks down completely. The ASUS PR person tells Hardware Unboxed one thing. ASUS corporate tells the press something different. Retailers tell resellers something else. Each of these parties is responding to the actual supply reality they see, but they're describing it in different terms.

The Role of Messaging: Why Communication Mattered More Than the Actual Shortage

Here's what's genuinely interesting about the ASUS situation: the physical supply constraint was real before and after the clarification. But the messaging changed, and that had real consequences.

When Hardware Unboxed reported that ASUS said "end-of-life," the implication was clear: the product is being phased out. This motivated people to buy now if they wanted one. Secondary market prices ticked up. Retailers updated stock statuses. Consumer behavior changed.

When ASUS clarified that the product isn't being discontinued, that implication reversed. Maybe people should wait for supply to normalize. Maybe prices will come down. Maybe there's no urgency. Some people might have held off from purchases they were planning.

But the actual availability—the physical reality that you can't buy the cards in most places—didn't change. The supply is still constrained. The product is still hard to find. The only thing that changed was the narrative about why.

This is actually really important for understanding how markets work. Markets don't respond to physical reality; they respond to information about physical reality. Traders, manufacturers, and consumers make decisions based on their understanding of the situation. When the narrative changes, behavior changes, even if the underlying situation hasn't changed much.

ASUS understood this. That's why they bothered to release a clarification. They understood that "we're not discontinuing the product" is a materially different signal than "we're ending-of-lifing this product," even if both statements describe a situation where you can't buy the product.

Regional Variation: Why Availability Is Different Everywhere

One detail that often gets lost in these discussions is that supply issues are inherently regional. What's unavailable in Australia might be available in the US. What's in short supply in Europe might be well-stocked in Asia.

ASUS manufactures GPUs at multiple facilities in different regions. They distribute through regional channels. A supply constraint at a particular manufacturing facility affects certain regions more than others. A distributor running low on inventory in Australia doesn't mean the entire global supply is equally constrained.

This is why the Hardware Unboxed reporting was specific to Australia. They spoke to resellers in that region and got that region's supply picture. But those same cards might be more available in other markets. Or they might not be—that would require checking regional distributors and retailers directly.

For consumers, this means your ability to buy the card depends heavily on where you're located. Someone in the US might have easier access than someone in Australia, or vice versa. The ASUS clarification "we're making these products" doesn't tell you whether they're making them in quantities sufficient to supply your region.

Forecasting Future Availability: What We Actually Know About Coming Months

Let's talk about what we can reasonably predict about GPU availability in the coming quarters.

Q1 2025 (Jan-Mar): Supply constraints on high-VRAM models will likely persist. Memory prices might soften slightly but probably won't drop dramatically. Expect continued availability challenges for RTX 5070 Ti and similar cards, but lower-VRAM models should have better stock.

Q2 2025 (Apr-Jun): This is when memory manufacturers expect to have materially increased production. Memory prices should trend down 10–20%. GPU availability should improve but probably won't return to historical norms immediately. Retail prices might start declining as competition increases for market share.

Q3 2025 (Jul-Sep): By this point, if memory prices have normalized (which is the industry expectation), GPU production should ramp back to designed capacity. Supply should be relatively healthy. Retail prices should reflect more normalized competition.

Q4 2025 and beyond: This is when we'd expect to see price competition intensify and availability reach comfortable levels. Unless there's another shock to the system (new AI boom, manufacturing disruption, geopolitical issue, etc.), the market should stabilize.

These are forecasts based on industry trends, not guarantees. Actual outcomes depend on factors like geopolitical tension affecting semiconductor manufacturing, surprise demand spikes, or unforeseen supply disruptions. But the baseline expectation is normalization by Q3–Q4 2025.

What You Should Actually Do: Practical Recommendations

If you're trying to buy a GPU right now, here's a framework for thinking about your decision:

If you need the hardware urgently (like, within the next 4 weeks), buy what's available now. Don't wait for the mythical price drop. Supply is constrained, and availability matters more than a 5–10% price difference. You can always upgrade later if you want.

If you can wait until Q2, hold off. Supply should be better and prices should be lower by April or May. The next 8 weeks of waiting is worth it if your project isn't time-critical.

If you're buying for a team or company, contact ASUS's business sales team directly. They have allocation mechanisms and can potentially guarantee supply in exchange for volume commitments. This is vastly better than trying to source through retail channels.

If you're flexible on the specific card, consider alternatives. The RTX 5070 Super or RTX 5070 (non-Ti) have different VRAM configurations and might have better availability. AMD's Radeon RX 7700 XT or 7800 XT might be available in your region. Previous-generation Nvidia cards might offer better value at current prices.

If you're building a data center or large-scale setup, this is worth a call with Nvidia's sales team directly. They can provide guidance on allocation and might be able to guarantee supply if you're making a significant commitment.

If you're just speculating (like, buying cards to resell or flip), you're playing a game of supply and demand that's unpredictable right now. The margins are too narrow to make this worthwhile in this market.

Lessons for Hardware Manufacturers: Communication as Supply Chain Management

ASUS's situation provides a playbook for what not to do in these circumstances.

When you're facing supply constraints, communicate clearly and consistently across all channels. Don't tell a YouTuber one thing and tell the press another. Establish official talking points and make sure your PR representatives are trained on them. When supply situations change, update your communications proactively rather than waiting for external reporting to force clarifications.

Manufacturers should also recognize that distributors and retailers are their customers too. When supply is constrained, tell them explicitly. Help them understand the timeline for recovery. Give them tools to communicate with end consumers. Don't leave them guessing.

The actual supply situation—that you've had to reduce production due to memory constraints—is not a shameful secret. It's a normal market condition. Being transparent about it builds credibility. Appearing to hide it or send mixed messages erodes credibility.

ASUS had an opportunity to get ahead of this story by being clear about the constraint, what caused it, and when they expected it to normalize. Instead, they let a miscommunication balloon into a larger credibility issue.

The Bigger Picture: How This Fits Into Hardware Market Trends

The ASUS situation is one data point in a larger trend of supply constraints affecting consumer electronics. Memory is tight. Advanced semiconductors require rare manufacturing facilities. Geopolitical tension around chip production is increasing. Demand volatility (swinging from cryptocurrency booms to AI booms) creates planning challenges.

ASUS and other hardware manufacturers are learning to operate in a more constrained, more volatile environment than they did in the 2010s. The era of predictable supply, steady demand growth, and consistent margins is ending. The new era is more dynamic but also more risky.

For consumers, this means hardware availability will be less guaranteed. Prices will fluctuate more. Supply constraints will recur periodically. The old strategy of "wait for the next generation to come out and buy the previous generation cheap" might not work as reliably.

It also means that buying hardware when it's available is sometimes the rational choice, even if it means paying current prices. The cost of waiting (losing productive time, missing project deadlines) might exceed the cost of paying slightly inflated prices.

Conclusion: Clarity in Confusion

ASUS didn't discontinue the RTX 5070 Ti and 5060 Ti 16GB. That much is now clear. But the company also didn't resolve the underlying issue that prompted the confusion in the first place: these cards are hard to buy, and they'll continue being hard to buy for several more months.

The situation reveals the gap between what manufacturers intend and what actually happens in the market. ASUS intended to simply constrain production of high-memory cards due to supply challenges. But that intention, when translated through PR channels, distributors, retailers, and media, became "end-of-life status." The gap between intention and communication became the actual story.

For anyone trying to buy these cards, the takeaway is straightforward: availability is genuinely constrained right now. Prices are elevated. If you need the hardware, buy what you can find. If you can wait, Q2 2025 should bring better options. Don't put too much weight on manufacturer statements about "planned production"—those statements often lag behind actual manufacturing reality by weeks or months.

For the broader industry, this situation is a reminder that supply chain transparency and clear communication matter. They're not just nice-to-haves; they're essential for maintaining market trust and enabling rational decision-making by consumers and businesses.

The memory shortage that created this situation isn't going to be solved overnight. But it will be solved. By the end of 2025, GPU availability should be healthy and prices should be reasonable. Until then, expect sporadic supply, regional variation, and periodic confusion. That's the reality of hardware markets in this era.