I feel like everything about this program put NVIDIA in a damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don't situation. On one hand, NVIDIA's net revenue is nearly approaching $100B, so they're greedy for not subsidizing AIBs. On the other hand, subsidizing AIBs brings about a litany of questions regarding fair trade, similar to how Intel was "subsidizing" system builders to prefer them over AMD.
Rising RAM prices are often cited as the primary reason behind increasingly expensive graphics cards, but YouTuber der8auer argues that Nvidia's pricing strategy may be just as significant. In a recent video, he describes what he calls an "MSRP lie."