Intel is preparing to raise the prices of its CPUs and chips. According to Nikkei, the chipmaker will raise prices on its flagship CPUs and a wide range of other chips, including Wi-Fi and other connectivity chips, later this year. Intel has already notified its customers of the price increases, which will almost certainly result in additional PC and laptop price increases during the holiday season.
According to Nikkei, pricing has not been finalized, but some chips could see a 20% price increase. Intel warned earlier this year that it was considering raising the prices of certain chips due to ongoing inflation and rising costs of materials, shipping, and labor. “Intel indicated on its Q1 earnings call that it would increase pricing in certain segments of its business due to inflationary pressures,” an Intel spokesperson tells Nikkei. “The company has started informing customers about these changes.”
While component shortages are beginning to ease, Gartner attributes the PC decline to inflationary pressure and a “sharp decline in demand for Chromebooks.” During the first two years of the pandemic, the PC market experienced phenomenal growth, but the combination of rising energy, fuel, and food prices, as well as people spending less time at home, has brought the PC market back to reality.
According to Gartner, the PC market in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa fell by 18 percent. “This is a significant drop in total volume after two years of very strong growth spurred by COVID-19 and renewed consumer and education interest in PCs,” says Mikako Kitagawa, research director at Gartner. “The abandonment or complete cessation of operations in Russia as a result of the Ukrainian war had an even greater impact on the PC market, as Russian PC shipments for leading PC vendors used to contribute between 5-10% of total EMEA PC volume.”
While the PC market is shaky and Intel prepares to raise CPU prices, the GPU market is booming. Last month, the great GPU shortage ended, thanks in part to the ongoing crypto crash. Crypto miners are flooding the market with no longer profitable cards, which means new GPUs are more readily available on store shelves. Nvidia has begun bundling free games with its RTX 3080, 3080 Ti, 3090, and 3090 Ti graphics cards.
If you’re thinking about building or buying a gaming PC, now seems like a good time to do so, as GPU prices are falling and CPU prices are rising. But we’re about to enter a new era of CPU and GPU upgrades, with Nvidia’s new 40-series GPUs expected to arrive in the coming months. If you really want the latest and greatest, it may be worth waiting to see what Nvidia, AMD, and Intel have in store for later this year.
