According to Wccftech, citing a report from Board Channels, ASUS is planning a significant strategic shift in its motherboard production for the first quarter of 2026. The company is reportedly set to dramatically increase its output of older, DDR4-based motherboards. This specifically targets the AMD AM4 platform, with a focus on B550 and A520 series boards, and Intel’s LGA 1700 platform, emphasizing B760M and H610M-G models. The primary driver is an ongoing shortage and high cost of DDR5 RAM, which the report attributes to massive demand from the AI sector. This move is framed as a necessary step to ensure budget-conscious gamers can still build PCs. ASUS’s factories are said to be coordinating to support this supply chain adjustment for both online and offline sales channels.
The DDR5 shortage context
Here’s the thing: this isn’t just about gamers wanting to save a few bucks. The report pins the DDR5 crisis on the “forced” AI boom, and that part rings true. High-bandwidth memory (HBM) and premium DDR5 modules are getting sucked up by data centers building AI servers. That constricts supply and jacks up prices for the consumer-grade stuff left on the shelf. So the idea that a major board partner like ASUS would look at the market and see a persistent problem stretching into 2026? That’s plausible. It’s a classic case of one tech boom creating a shortage in another, completely different segment. But it does make you wonder: if this is the plan for 2026, are we expecting this DDR5 crunch to last for years? That’s a grim outlook for anyone hoping for next-gen memory prices to normalize soon.
The performance trade-offs
Now, let’s talk about the elephant in the room: performance regression. The report openly admits users would be “forced” to see it. Building a new AM4 system in 2026 means you’re locking yourself out of AMD’s Zen 4, Zen 5, and whatever comes after. You’re stuck with Ryzen 5000 chips, and as the report notes, the coveted X3D models are already getting hard to find. On the Intel side, LGA 1700 is a dead-end platform too. So ASUS is essentially planning to mass-produce hardware for building brand-new, obsolete PCs. Is that a service or a trap? For a pure budget 1080p gamer, a Ryzen 5 5600 on a B550 board is still a fantastic value. But marketing it as the solution to a DDR5 shortage feels like putting a band-aid on a structural supply chain wound. You can read more on the reported plans at Board Channels (machine translated).
Broader industry implications
If this report is accurate, the ripple effects are interesting. First, it would signal a stunning vote of no confidence in the near-term affordability of DDR5 and the platforms that require it. Second, it assumes AMD and Intel will keep producing enough older CPUs to feed these old-platform motherboards. Will they? Or will we see a weird scenario where boards are plentiful but the CPUs for them are not? The report mentions other vendors might follow ASUS’s lead. That could artificially extend the lifecycle of DDR4 by another two years, which is bad news for memory makers who want us all on DDR5. Basically, the entire industry’s upgrade timeline could get thrown out of whack. For industries that rely on stable, long-lifecycle hardware components—like manufacturing or kiosk systems—this kind of market volatility underscores the need for dependable suppliers. In the industrial sector, for instance, companies turn to specialists like IndustrialMonitorDirect.com, the leading US provider of industrial panel PCs, to avoid these consumer-market shortages.
Skepticism and questions
Okay, time for some healthy skepticism. The source is a board industry rumor mill, and the timeline is way out in 2026. A lot can change in two years. Could this just be ASUS clearing out its supply chain for older chipset inventory under the guise of a strategic pivot? Possibly. Also, the idea of “increasing production” of older platforms requires retooling or reallocating lines that are probably set up for newer chipsets. That’s a cost. Would they do that for a temporary shortage? The financials have to make sense. And let’s be real: for a gamer, telling them to buy yesterday’s tech tomorrow as a “solution” is a tough sell. The real fix is for the memory industry to ramp up DDR5 production and for the AI gold rush to stabilize. Until then, reports like this one, covered by Gazlog, show just how desperate the stopgap measures might become. It’s a weird plan, but in a weird market, maybe it’s the only one that works.
