Intel could be planning to increase the prices for its CPU, peripheral chips, and other products soon. The company will supposedly “raise prices on a majority of its microprocessors and peripheral chip products later this year,” according to a report from Nikkei Asia. The cause of the price increase is apparently rising chip production costs. Inflation seems to be another reason for this as well. However, Intel has yet to officially confirm this, so don’t take this story as fact quite yet.
The majority of Intel’s products will seemingly receive the increase of prices. CPUs for PCs and servers, peripheral chips, and various kinds of chip controllers are all included. With that said, it seems that the exact increase in terms of percentage isn’t finalized. Nikkei Asia’s report says that increases could range from single digits to more than 20%. If these price increases do happen, it’s likely we’ll see price ranges differ with certain products.
Intel may decide to hike its prices up
This is likely to affect the upcoming lineup of Intel’s Raptor Lake CPUs this fall. Depending on how much Intel’s prices increase, those looking to upgrade may be in for a shock. If Intel marks these prices up too much, it may give AMD the edge when it comes time for consumers to make a choice between Raptor Lake and Zen 4. Intel is also a leading force in producing CPUs for several kinds of client PCs and servers. This means that a price increase would affect the usual consumer as well as wider commercial industries.
It’s important to note that the supply-chain issues caused by the global pandemic are still very much in effect. These issues aren’t the only reason Intel would make this decision. The rising costs of raw materials, labor, and electricity costs are contributing factors to consider as well. Something that remains to be seen is whether other companies will follow suit. These problems don’t just affect Intel, so we could see others increase prices by the end of the year. Either way, we’ll have to wait and see whether Intel’s prices do increase, and by how much later in the year.
In other news, a previous report suggests that motherboard sales may drop by 30% in 2022. Whether that may benefit consumers is hard to say to say at this point.
