By Tony Polanco
Publication Date: 2026-02-05 16:00:00
For the first time in three decades, Nvidia is reportedly taking a year off from the gaming GPU market.
According to a new report from The Information, Team Green has scrapped its plans for any new graphics card releases in 2026. The reason? As you might have guessed, the ongoing global memory shortage, or what we at Tom’s Guide refer to as “RAMageddon,” has become so severe that Nvidia is being forced to choose between gamers and feeding the AI beast.
Unfortunately, AI is winning. Here’s everything you need to know about this latest development in the ongoing RAM crisis saga
The end of a 30-year tradition
NVIDIA has released at least one new gaming GPU every single year since the early 90s. Even during the height of the crypto-mining craze and the pandemic supply chain collapse, the company managed to get something onto store shelves.
But 2026 is different. RAMageddon has hit a point where AI data centers are simply gobbling up the raw materials for memory.
According to The Information’s sources, Nvidia has indefinitely delayed “Kicker”—the code name for the incremental RTX 50-series refresh, likely the “Super” cards that we expected to see this year. Even though the designs were reportedly finished, the company decided that it couldn’t justify the memory costs.
RTX 50 production slashed
It’s not just about the lack of new cards, either. The report also states that Nvidia is slashing production…
