Nvidia Raises Shield TV Pro Price by $100 Amid AI-Driven Component Costs

Nvidia is pushing Shield TV Pro owners deeper into their wallets. The company announced a $100 price jump for its aging streaming box, which now costs $299.99 starting October 2—a significant hike from its previous $199.99 tag, and a far cry from its 2019 launch price.

Why the surprise increase?#

The culprit is not a hardware overhaul or new features. Instead, Nvidia points to surging component expenses across the entire sector. "The cost of components, including memory, has increased substantially across the industry," an Nvidia spokesperson explained to Ars Technica. The AI era has created intense demand for memory and storage chips, driving up prices even for devices relying on older silicon.

The Shield TV Pro still runs on a Tegra X1+ processor from 2019—capable enough for streaming but far from bleeding-edge. Yet because Nvidia manufactures fresh units continuously with no pre-AI inventory backlog to lean on, every new Shield is built at today's inflated component prices.

A passion project that must turn profit#

Nvidia framed the Shield as a passion project in conversations earlier this year, with executives touting its longevity and commitment to software updates. But even passion projects must balance the books—and with the company selling every Shield unit it produces, cost pressures are unavoidable. The non-Pro variant has already been phased out, leaving only the Pro model to shoulder Nvidia's ambitions in the streaming space.