The recent silicon shortage has left AMD to make some big decisions regarding the production of its main CPU lineup. Lisa Su, CEO at AMD, admitted as much during a JPMorgan conference on Monday.
While on the call, Su was asked about AMD profits being altered due to the shortage. Su suggested that because of the higher demand than available supply, decisions had to be made regarding what chips to produce. This meant limiting the entry-level and lower-level processors in favor of the higher-cost offerings.
“There is some compute that we’re leaving underserviced,” Su said. “I would say, particularly, if you look at some of the segments in the PC market, sort of the lower end of the PC market, we have prioritized some of the higher-end commercial SKUs and gaming SKUs and those kinds of things.”
When will AMD CPU production increase?
The answer shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone. Companies like AMD and Intel don’t make that much on lower-end CPU sails. It’s the mid-to-high-end processors that raise profits for producers. According to Su, AMD has focused on prioritizing products that will sell immediately, as opposed to anything that may sit around waiting to be purchased.
“People are really now focused on, ‘Hey, we’re not ordering stuff to put it on the shelf, right, we’re ordering stuff that end customers want’,” Su said. “That’s how we think about prioritization, is prioritizing sort of the end customer needs as we go forward.”
Su did end her time on the call with a glimmer of hope for consumers worried about stock. “I do believe that you will see more and more capacity come online as we go through the next couple of quarters,” she said.
The Covid-19 pandemic has impacted millions of people, and not just in regards to general health. Industries continue to work to rebound as vaccines rollout globally. Until that rebound is complete, product availability will continue to suffer. It’s just unfortunate that there’s no clear end in sight to the lack of CPU production from AMD and Intel for PC enthusiasts, even with Su’s small belief of improvement within the next four to eight months. For now, everyone will just have to practice patience.
