MSI seems to be focusing more on NVIDIA's RTX GPUs than AMD's Radeon GPUs as the company focuses on products with higher user interest.
MSI Wants To Focus More On NVIDIA RTX GPUs Than AMD Radeon Since They Are More Popular Among Gamers
The discussion on MSI's GPU portfolio broke out when HardwareUnboxed made a post on X highlighting the manufacturer's AMD Radeon GPU portfolio. It was stated that MSI had been completely removed from AMD's Radeon 7000 series & that all of their existing products were discontinued however that's not the full story.
Did I miss this story? MSI has been completely removed from AMD's Radeon 7000 series, all existing products have been discontinued and they never released a 7700 XT/7800 XT. This all seems to have happened very quietly.
— Hardware Unboxed (@HardwareUnboxed) April 26, 2024
MSI is one of the three major AIB partners of NVIDIA and AMD. The company has offered diverse products for both camps in the past. MSI was indeed very late to bring out its AMD Radeon RX 7000 GPUs in the form of the Radeon RX 7900 XTX & RX 7900 XT but they did launch them and they are available at US retailers at the moment.
These retailers might have the last remaining stock of these GPUs but there's no official confirmation regarding a discontinuation. The last of the MSI RX 7000 GPUs was the Radeon RX 7600 and the company didn't introduce any RX 7800 XT or 7700 XT models however the reason is something very different.
MSI, just like many other AIBs, have to work with smaller margins on GPUs and they have to decide whether a product is meaningful for them and if there's enough demand in the market.
Besides the Radeon RX 7900 GRE which recently saw a global release, the RX 7800 XT, RX 7700 XT, and RX 7600 XT were all positioned in the sub-$500 US price range but it looks like NVIDIA's RTX 40 GPUs & even older RTX 30 / RX 6000 GPUs have been more popular among gamers. Following are the Radeon RX 7000 GPUs offered by MSI:
- Radeon RX 7900 XTX Gaming Trio Classic
- Radeon RX 7900 XT Gaming Trio Classic
- Radeon RX 7600 MECH 2X Classic OC
- Radeon RX 7600 MECH 2X Classic
That's why the company is simply focusing on other products rather than dropping out of the AMD Radeon bandwagon. This much seems to be confirmed in a response by MSI provided to HardwareLuxx:
When it comes to graphics cards, our focus at the moment is actually more on RTX cards. Nevertheless, the collaboration with AMD is essential and extremely relevant for us. We see a very positive development, particularly in the area of mainboards.
MSI Rep to HardwareLuxx
MSI is indeed a major player in the AIB segment but we have previously seen AIBs drop specific brands due to similar reasons or as partnerships made by the big GPU vendors. XFX went AMD-only while ASRock, despite offering both AMD & Intel GPUs, has yet to hop on the NVIDIA train but the company did say it plans on going that route once it makes sense.
Similarly, there have been reports of several small-scale AMD AIBs dropping out of business or going bankrupt due to poor sales in the Asia Pacific region, mainly China.
MSI isn't saying that they'll stop offering AMD Radeon GPUs but they are more focused on the NVIDIA RTX lineup so if demand for AMD's GPUs increases in the future, we might see more options from the vendor. The company will continue to offer AMD motherboards as there is strong demand for those but AMD is and will remain "Extremely" relevant to the manufacturer.
