NVIDIA may skip its annual GPU release for the first time in 30 years

NVIDIA, grappling with unprecedented demand for AI chips, has made a strategic decision to delay the launch of its next-generation gaming GPUs. According to an insider report from The Information, the company will not release the updated GeForce RTX 50 series in 2026 – marking the first time in 30 years it has skipped an annual graphics card launch.

This historic move stems from a fundamental shift in NVIDIA’s business model. While gaming GPUs accounted for 35% of the company’s revenue in Q1 2022, that share is expected to shrink to roughly 8% by 2025. Meanwhile, AI accelerator chips (like the H100, B200, and their successors) have seen profitability soar to 65%, compared to 40% for consumer graphics cards. A global shortage of memory chips driven by the AI infrastructure boom has also forced NVIDIA to prioritize limited manufacturing capacity toward its more lucrative AI segment.

For the gaming industry, this translates into a freeze on technological progress. Gamers already struggling with shortages and inflated prices for current RTX 50 series models won’t see the anticipated “Super” refresh in 2026. On top of that, The Information suggests the release of the subsequent architecture generation (informally dubbed “RTX 60”)-originally slated for mass production by late 2027-could be delayed as well.

Meanwhile, NVIDIA continues to ramp up deliveries of AI accelerators to data centers operated by Microsoft, Google, Amazon, and OpenAI, whose computing demands are doubling every few months. Analysts speculate NVIDIA may unveil hybrid GPU solutions based on the Blackwell architecture, with stripped-down tensor cores optimized for gaming-but these cards are expected to come at a steep premium compared to traditional gaming models. At the time of publication, NVIDIA has not provided any official comments.