Retailers quietly slash prices of AMD's and Intel's latest EPYC and Xeon CPUs by up to 50% — inexplicable price drops left unexplained

[u/Emerson_Wallace_9272]

https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/cpus/retailers-quietly-slash-prices-of-amds-and-intels-latest-epyc-and-xeon-cpus-by-up-to-50-percent-inexplicable-price-drops-left-unexplained

[u/Pillokun]

simply means that they have super duper mega margins on their stuff from the getgo.

Remember that every sale u see they still make a profit. Very seldom any company sells a product below their profit margin. If they do it is an old product that sat there on the shelves for ages they they want to replace with something that actually sells.

[u/Tuna-Fish2 → u/Pillokun]

The actual sale prices of server hardware has typically been closer to these discounted prices instead of the list prices. Server CPUs are sold to system integrators, who then build servers and sell them to the final customers. They like having official list prices that are much higher than the actual contract prices that the CPU makers sell them chips at.

[u/WolfishDJ → u/Tuna-Fish2]

Can't wait to get a Xeon from one of the more recent generations to screw around with.

[u/996forever → u/WolfishDJ]

I want a cheap Ponte Vecchio to play with

[u/nonaveris → u/WolfishDJ]

ES/QS for Sapphire and Emerald Rapids processors fit that bill well. Drop at least 128gb in them and watch them sing.

If you have a wallet burning desire, Xeon Max processors with onboard HBM2e are doable as full systems for 2000-3000ish

[u/meltbox → u/nonaveris]

Do you know if the hbm has ecc? I assume so, but just wondering.

Tempting…

[u/viperabyss → u/Tuna-Fish2]

Exactly this. No server customers actually purchase these CPUs at anywhere close to list price. 50% off is quite normal starting point before the "sharpening the pencil" negotiations.

[u/chmilz → u/viperabyss]

Not uncommon to see DOL (discount off list) agreements in the 60-70% range.

[u/viperabyss → u/chmilz]

Yep, and some OEMs (cough cough Cisco cough cough) are worse than others in artificially inflate the list price to show a bigger "discount".

[u/DwarfPaladin84 → u/viperabyss]

As a Optical Network Architect designing L1-L3 for core networks, I HATE Cisco and their damn pricing. Juniper and Nokia are so much more easier to work with, along with Ciena,

[u/SirActionhaHAA → u/Pillokun]

Like people said the list prices ain't real, major customers don't buy at anywhere close to those prices. Talkin about the "super duper mega margins" also ain't right because most of the cost of developing a processor comes from the r&d and not the material cost. The margins don't reflect the hundreds of millions in development costs

It's the same for drugs, people love to talk about how each dosage costs a dollar to manufacture but don't mention all the years of research needed to finally result in the products.

[u/king_of_the_potato_p → u/Pillokun]

That or they need to unload it now or they'll have difficulty later.

We have no idea what their internal data shows.

And not every sale still has profit, remember that things like gaming consoles for example usually dont make a profit on the hardware until its been out a few years, yet they have sales and bundles. The consoles make their money on the games and extras.

Pc hardware though, whats probably happening is slow sales in the west, decrease in china sales especially potentially in the near future, plus new hardware coming out that might make offloading this hardware more difficult the longer they wait especially if they have oversupply.

But yeah most sales they still make a profit, just not every time, sometimes its strategic or desperate offloading.

[u/zakats → u/Pillokun]

And yet you'll see people in the comments lining up to defend those poor, poor dears with their meager billions of quarterly profit.

[u/VenditatioDelendaEst → u/zakats]

Better than the pinkos who've been marinating in unexploded commie propaganda so long that they think profit margin is a measure of how immoral a business is.

[u/GIJared → u/VenditatioDelendaEst]

Grandpa, you’re not supposed to be on the internet after 8 PM, you know this. You’re gonna get caught and miss out on bingo and jello night again. Just go to bed, ok?

[u/VenditatioDelendaEst → u/GIJared]

Please don't insult the young by assuming only old people can recognize your failed envy-based ideology for what it is.

[u/zakats → u/VenditatioDelendaEst]

What an asinine take.

[u/VenditatioDelendaEst → u/zakats]

The asinine take is hating those who have more than you.

[u/zakats → u/VenditatioDelendaEst]

Who is doing that?

[u/Shaq_Attack_32 → u/Pillokun]

They take a big loss at the start. Yield is at its lowest point and the cost of node development is huge. It all depends on the wafer agreement.

[u/Plank_With_A_Nail_In → u/Shaq_Attack_32]

The high tech stuff that's in demand can easily sell at 10x margin just for the chip, something like Nvidia's bundled together servers are probably close to 20x margin.

Even those $0.0001 resistors sold on reels of a 10,000 are still making significant margin.

One day look up the prices of the chips on something like a USB hub, even the best won't be more that $4 of components sold in a device retailing at $80, the ports and connectors are the most expensive parts.

[u/turikk → u/Plank_With_A_Nail_In]

Looking at margin as cost of bill of materials vs retail price is misleading, even if an accurate use of the word.

It costs millions to develop the technology to create those things, millions to employ the people who get it out the door. None of these products could afford to be developed if the company charged what it cost to print the chips after all the research that goes into them.

AMD and other manufacturers are able to drop the pricing because they finally recoup the cost of developing those chips, or at least are getting closer to it. And it's usually a good sign that the next generation of products are significantly better and they have confidence they will sell. For parallel computing, it's very risky to sell old stock at a deep discount, since you can just use more of the older, cheaper chip. Like a gamer just getting an RTX 4080 instead of a 5070.

[u/Exist50 → u/Shaq_Attack_32]

That's not how their wafer pricing works. Also, N4 is an extremely mature node on the AMD side, and Intel 3 should be pretty mature for Intel.

[u/6950 → u/Exist50]

But the ~600mm2 Intel 3 die Hogs Wafers

[u/Exist50 → u/6950]

It's not like they have a shortage of capacity.

[u/6950 → u/Exist50]

But it takes time to ramp it

[u/Exist50 → u/6950]

They're not limited by that either. It's a demand limitation.

[u/Shaq_Attack_32 → u/Exist50]

Before Intel internally split fab and design, they had no wafer agreement with itself. You could hide the cost of things like additional steppings, which resulted in a lot of waste.

[u/Exist50 → u/Shaq_Attack_32]

What does that have to do with my statement?

[u/Shaq_Attack_32 → u/Exist50]

I thought it'd be obvious. In some instances, there is no wafer agreement. Its not possible to know margins on a single product if your business units aren't separated out. Hence, wafer pricing doesn't always work like TSMC does it.

[u/Exist50 → u/Shaq_Attack_32]

Its not possible to know margins on a single product if your business units aren't separated out

But they are now.

[u/Shaq_Attack_32 → u/Exist50]

yes, it'll be the one year anniversary next month. But the previous 56 years, they just ran wafers and sold the chips for what they could. I guess I need to adjust my thinking to the new way Intel does it. Optoelectronics fabs/industry typically don't separate out their business units.

The better point that I should have made was that as yield improves, the cost per die decreases, even though wafer prices are steady.

[u/tigger994 → u/Pillokun]

Seems weird when prices will go up fairly significantly with tariffs.

[u/Zerasad → u/Pillokun]

Ehh, there are a bunch of times when items are sold at a loss. There are times when they expect to make their money back in other ways. Like Playstations and Xboxes where they expected to make the money back selling games. Or super cheap TVs where they expect to make the money back in ads.

There are also loss leaders where you sell one item at a loss to get more customers in the door and hope they buy other items as well.

[u/shugthedug3 → u/Zerasad]

Like Playstations and Xboxes where they expected to make the money back selling games.

Apparently this practice is very over now and has been for a couple of generations.

No clue if that is true but people have said it to me, it does feel that way given how much both companies charge for console hardware.

[u/Zerasad → u/shugthedug3]

I linked an article in an answer below where an Xbox VP said under oath that Xboxes have never sold for a profit in 2021. Can't imagine that changed since then.

[u/braiam → u/Zerasad]

Analyst Daniel Ahmad confirmed that the PS4 eventually became profitable for Sony and that Nintendo developed the Switch to be profitable quickly, so Microsoft is the odd one out.

You are using the exception to prove the rule. Most companies don't sell at a loss a product, unless for market penetration reasons. (also, this is probably just recency bias speaking, MS had a very popular console in the Halo generation)

[u/Zerasad → u/braiam]

All three consoles were sold at a loss at one point. The PS4 eventually became profitable, the Switch became profitable quickly. Xbox is only the odd one out inso far as it never became profitable. Also Xbox is not really an exception if it's 20-30% of the market.

[u/braiam → u/Zerasad]

the Switch became profitable quickly

With the notable exception of the Wii, Nintendo doesn't sell any console at a loss. All their consoles have been sold above costs.

[u/sylfy → u/shugthedug3]

If you compare the prices to what it costs for the PC equivalent, it most definitely is either a loss or barely break even. There’s a reason why the Air Force built a supercomputer cluster out of PS3s.

[u/Exist50 → u/sylfy]

There’s a reason why the Air Force built a supercomputer cluster out of PS3s.

That was like 20 years ago.

[u/fricy81 → u/sylfy]

I don't know. What's the current market price of a zen2 cpu on 12 nm process node that's running in the ps5? Kind of obsolete tech of you ask me.
Or the Switch 2 for a more recent release. Handheld battery powered device with 8 nm SOC?

[u/Morningst4r → u/fricy81]

The PS5 APU is 6nm, 7 for older ones. The APU is also much more than some Zen 2 cores.

[u/VenditatioDelendaEst → u/sylfy]

The PC equivalent is a consumer laptop minus the screen and battery, pretty much.

Remember the slots and sockets and ATX you get in a DIY PC don't come for free. Neither do the 4-5 extra fans you don't need if the whole thing is an integrated unit.

[u/Pillokun → u/Zerasad]

nah, they are actually lying to us be it willingly or not. no way consoles that often are discussed are sold at a loss, because Sony, MS and Nintendo dont get the prices as we get offered from the "supply companies". When u see some media outlet trying to dig into the cost they dont get to see the deals that say sony, ms or Nintendo lock in with their "suppliers" because they are so large and sell in such huge volumes the prices are totally different. That is why Sw2 is so much cheaper than other pc handhelds, even though the hw is old an obsolete as it should have come out years ago as a sw pro :P

I have worked in product development, and every cost was hiked up and then we could say, this and that was such and such when in fact the parts we bought for our product and the end result was much cheaper than what was officially displayed. Not only that but the price for a product that we bought in differed so much depending on the company we represented.

But sure, officially some components are sold at a loss because u get the return in game-sells.

Usually u sell something at a loss when u just could not get rid of it, or u give it away in some kind of pr campaign and then it turns to the thing u mentioned like consoles get the return via games.

[u/Zerasad → u/Pillokun]

Xbox's VP said under oath that Xboxes were always sold at a loss: https://www.pcmag.com/news/microsoft-says-xbox-consoles-have-always-been-sold-at-a-loss there is not much more proof you can get than that.

Also loss leaders are very real and very prevalent. I worked at a big cash and carry store as a teenager and saw how much profit we were making on things. We had the most volume in paper towels in my segment and we always had a huge loss on them. So much so that if we somehow weren't making a loss my boss got concerned and told me to look at the numbers again, because that can't be right. I never understood why we wanted to make a loss that just didn't make sense to me. But it was certainly a thing.

[u/[deleted] → u/Zerasad]

Microsoft sells them at a loss to retailers, not retailers to consumers. That's simply illegal in a lot of places unless you're straight up clearing obsolete inventory or going out of business. Your anecdotal paper towels might make sense if they can point to some other store in the area selling a comparable product for that price. As for non-clearance sales, they're either within margin or paid for by the company providing the inventory.

It would also make no sense for retailers to take a bath on a console when they can't reliably expect associated sales to be with them since you can buy that stuff anywhere.

e: actual F&A reqs getting downvoted in favor of the guy who stocked shelves one summer, never change reddit

[u/MdxBhmt → u/[deleted]]

Microsoft sells them at a loss to retailers, not retailers to consumers.

/u/Pillokun was saying MS and Sony were lying about selling at a loss, not retailers. He wasn't talking about retailers.

e: actual F&A reqs getting downvoted in favor of the guy who stocked shelves one summer, never change reddit

Misrepresent the topic, blames on Reddit. Never change reddit.

[u/Pillokun → u/[deleted]]

it is always a play with numbers, and where the loss occurs. For instance one can develop a product and u have healthy margins, but then the parasites up top will suck up so much of the money given to the project that it will look like the project is at a loss. That is how it works, why do u think so many games cost so much to develop? there are managers/ceos and other people that just suck the project dry before it is even launched.

[u/[deleted] → u/Pillokun]

It can make sense for Microsoft because they make the real money on games being sold (platform royalties + dev tools etc.), accessories (again royalties or just profitable OEM stuff), XBL subscriptions and so on. Sony famously burned a whole lot of money on the first generations of PS3s.

It would make zero sense for retailers because they have no reasonable expectation of seeing those sales reliably come back to them. At most they're selling them at BEP.

[u/CheesyCaption → u/Pillokun]

It's hilarious that you think those people do nothing but remove value. That kind of behavior is what happens when you have monopolies. With any sort of competition, the parasitic entities will be quickly removed to drive down costs or reduce prices to drive out the competitors. There's a lot more that goes into a product than the parts it's made of and the people who put those parts together. Frankly, that's the easiest part. The hard part is deciding which product people will buy and figuring out how to put it together cheap enough to make a profit.

[u/kingwhocares]

It's always Low sales.

[u/GemmyBoy999]

This is normal and happens very frequently, maybe just not by 50%, then again, it's
"up to 50%" so that may explain it.

[u/SERIVUBSEV → u/GemmyBoy999]

No it's not normal.

EPYC 9565, a 10 month old chip, is at $5.7k PER UNIT at retail, when MSRP is $10.4k PER 1000 UNIT.

Intel's FLAGSHIP 128-core Xeon 6980P is available for $5,166, 53% lower than recommended 1k Unit price of $12k.

I'm guessing AI spending has been curtailed massively by one or more companies recently.

[u/spicesucker → u/SERIVUBSEV]

Every so often Jensen Huang probably wakes up in a cold sweat from a bad dream where AMD didn’t tank ATI Radeon to fund Ryzen.

Then he looks at the stocks app he leaves open on his bedside table and collapses back into peaceful sleep.

[u/MrMoussab → u/SERIVUBSEV]

You provide no argument to why it's not normal though

[u/InsanePacman → u/MrMoussab]

Yes he does. Per unit vs bulk unit buying makes a big difference and it’s not normal for discounts to be this great on SINGLE units of this class of chip when MSRP was so much higher on specifically bulk orders.

[u/Morningst4r → u/SERIVUBSEV]

Maybe they’re trying to cash in on smaller users building AI servers. It sounds like historically no one paid anywhere near full price.

[u/nanonan → u/SERIVUBSEV]

Perhaps they finally realised people might actually buy them in small amounts if they didn't have artificially jacked up prices that are discounted by slimy salesmen.

[u/BlueGoliath → u/GemmyBoy999]

Gotta love "up to 50% off" sales. It's always like 1 item no one wants that only has 1 left.

[u/cambeiu]

Canary in the Coal Mine for a recession?

[u/fkenthrowaway → u/cambeiu]

Wallmart missed their earning for the first time in last 3 years.

[u/bogglingsnog → u/cambeiu]

The canary has been dead for a few months now, we're just counting how many miners are missing after each shift and chalking it up to nature

[u/CammKelly → u/cambeiu]

Maybe. There's been a lot of signs that there is a tech bubble however which would have popped a few years ago if it wasn't for the AI goldrush. We might now be looking at the AI bubble popping as well.

[u/soggybiscuit93 → u/CammKelly]

The server CPU market has been heavily depressed because of AI, as datecenter spend has heavily shifted towards Nvidia.

A lot of Nvidia's recent growth has come, partially, at the expense of Xeon and Epyc.

You can see how the TAM shrinks in 2023 and it still hasn't fully recovered.

Epyc and Xeon are fighting over a smaller pie

[u/noiserr → u/soggybiscuit93]

AI is a part of it, but it's also the post pandemic glut. People going back to office/school and less need for Zoom etc. During the pandemic we saw a huge demand for CPUs where companies were double and triple ordering.

You can see the same thing happened to PC shipments, which have nothing to do with AI crowding datacenter orders. https://i.imgur.com/M1Rsjcf.jpeg

[u/reddanit → u/cambeiu]

Maybe. Though my bet would mostly be on business as usual (large discounts on high margin products can and do happen).

Or also decently likely - it might be one of first signs that the AI bubble is popping soon. A bunch of companies in that space are playing chicken between themselves - under assumption that whoever "wins" the AI race will easily recoup their infrastructure investment. Meta is already reported to be seeking external funding for AI, presumably because they ran out of billions of dollars they could spend by themselves.

[u/soggybiscuit93 → u/cambeiu]

2023 was when the server CPU market saw it's biggest contraction. The market is still growing, but hasn't yet gone back to 2022 levels.

[u/glizzytwister → u/cambeiu]

Why would this be the canary?

[u/EJ19876 → u/cambeiu]

No. Intel and AMD overestimated the growth in demand and have undoubtedly manufactured too many CPUs. Demand did increase, however, just not by as much as they had projected. It is better to discount product to sell it than to sit on the inventory for a year.

Much to Reddit's dismay, the sky is, in fact, not falling.

[u/-LaughingMan-0D]

Data center demand dropping?

[u/jameson71 → u/-LaughingMan-0D]

Spending all their money on GPUs for AI most likely.

[u/Plank_With_A_Nail_In]

Do manufacturers normally explain why they are cutting prices? The world must be so confusing to this headline writer if they really think this is inexplicable lol.

inexplicable

unable to be explained or accounted for

[u/sysKin → u/Plank_With_A_Nail_In]

I think it's not manufacturers who are expected to explain it, but analysts / journalists / pundits / etc.

[u/Vo_Mimbre]

Retailers are setting up for Q4 sales, and they need to rotate out old stock to make way for new stock.

Retail shelf space is limited. But seasonal buying is a behavior that goes back to millennia of farmer’s markets. While nowadays it’s much less about retail shelf space (because of e-commerce) and these new prices are likely more about corporate buying than individuals, two things remain true.

• The global supply chain of making to shipping to warehousing to offering for sale is still based in Q4. That’s because of above.
• Likely every companies’ budget for outside spend will be cut last year like it was this year. But this year’s budget isn’t all being given back, while investment in future things is down due to uncertainty. So there’s some budget remaining, but not enough for paying at sticker-price

What makes me think this is the case is the final paragraph of the article:

both AMD and Intel are producing CPUs aggressively to secure market share in data centers. If supply briefly overshot immediate OEM demand, distributors may be offloading excess stock into retail channels, and to move volume, they could be discounting well below list prices. While nowadays is less about limited retail store shelf space,

[u/Thorusss → u/Vo_Mimbre]

It is not about shelf space, but leading edge hardware loses value by just sitting in a warehouse, due to progress of technology.

[u/HilLiedTroopsDied]

RAm for 12 channel memory costs more than the massive CPUs now. I do wish I had a 12 channel epyc gen 4 or 5, or a granite rapids 12 channel with AMX for local inference.

[u/ACiD_80]

Probably hecause high inventory because everyone's budget is going to AI...

[u/Possible-Put8922]

Clearing off the shelves for new models.

[u/xternocleidomastoide]

So basically this was an add for a couple of retailers having a random sale. LOL

[u/MehImages → u/xternocleidomastoide]

nope. when I check price comparison websites locally they were always for sale significantly below MSRP and have not dropped significantly recently. they shot up in price for a few weeks in july, but came back down end of july already.
Epyc 9565 for example was 7400 when it released and dropped to 5100 already end of april. now it's at 4800

[u/CapoDoFrango → u/xternocleidomastoide]

lol, smart add

[u/usdrpvvimwfvrzjavnrs]

Hopefully Threadripper will be next, it would be really nice to be able to afford one of those.

[u/msolace]

more supply than demand. too many other arm options, and more of a push toward gpu solutions. its not really something that should be that hard to understand

[u/INITMalcanis]

I can explain it: the big boys know that the AI bubble is due to pop (or at least start deflating) and they're looking to reduce stock in hand.

[u/Brilliant-Weekend-68 → u/INITMalcanis]

Ai bubble? If it was gpu prices sure, but this not that. Nvidia even sells their units with their own cpus these days

[u/CapoDoFrango → u/INITMalcanis]

Source?

[u/reddanit → u/CapoDoFrango]

For now it's got to all be either insider knowledge or inference from news. There is a bunch of things that could imply AI bubble popping somewhere around now or pretty soon, depending how you look at them and how much credence you are willing to give:

• Recent chat GPT5 release was rather underwhelming. Maybe it's a fluke, or it's a sign that LLMs have hit a soft ceiling of capability. Mere possibility of the latter is going to chill the investors currently pouring untold billions of dollars into AI infrastructure.
• It obviously depends on what you look for, but you do certainly see a lot of voices, increasingly substantiated, that haphazardly forcing AI into every nook and cranny doesn't actually increase productivity in most cases. Again - to what exact degree this is true is up in the air, but merely shifting the sentiment is also going to chill the pace of AI investment.
• There are also many voices coming in with various extrapolations of current AI development cost, scaling difficulty and results. Those coming form the mayor players in the race obviously are very positive, but from the outside there is a lot of real challenges - like models needing exponentially more good data even after they already used basically everything there is.
• In more substantial news, there is Meta seeking external funding for further AI development. This would seem to indicate that at least one of the major players in this space is showing first signs of running out of cash to burn on this whole huge game of chicken.

[u/INITMalcanis → u/CapoDoFrango]

Me reading the news and getting an impression of how things are shaping up.

v0v maybe I'm just wishcasting. Please consult a qualified advisor for financial advice.

[u/CapoDoFrango → u/INITMalcanis]

I'm the source

[u/Vushivushi → u/INITMalcanis]

Server CPU demand has been negatively correlated with AI demand.

So it's not really a good leading indicator.

[u/SERIVUBSEV → u/INITMalcanis]

Every greedy corpo knows it's a bubble but wants to stay in until last second to maximize earning.

This seems more like it's already popped, and we will hear more about it in coming months from public announcements and earnings releases.

[u/INITMalcanis → u/SERIVUBSEV]

A plausible scenario. All I see are the ripples on the surface, not exactly what the big fish are doing down there.

[u/Green_Struggle_1815 → u/SERIVUBSEV]

stay in until last second to maximize earning.

If it's generating massive earnings it's not a bubble. So far it's looking nothing like a bubble. There's real usage, which only seems to accelerate.

[u/MdxBhmt → u/Green_Struggle_1815]

Huh a bubble can generate massive earnings and still be a bubble. That's like, a major way to get people into a bubble.

What makes something a bubble or not is sustainability. Right now there is a major issue in monetizing AI while retaining users in face of the very expensive CapEx (it's a whole discussion on it's own).

[u/Green_Struggle_1815 → u/MdxBhmt]

Right now there is a major issue in monetizing AI

the monetization is already happening. The adoption speed and willingness to pay for e.g. AI coding tools is mind boggling. That alone is an enormous market.

The 'dot com' bubble pop due to slow adoption not the case here. Granted the spending pace probably dwarfs that of the 2000's

Then there's the whole national security concern. The US simply can not have US based AI research slow down and risk falling behind China. The GPU export restrictions show how serious they are about it.

[u/MdxBhmt → u/Green_Struggle_1815]

The monetization is happening, yes, but sustainability is not clear.

I recommend this read.

The 'dot com' bubble pop due to slow adoption not the case here.

lmao no. It's much more complex than that.

The adoption speed and willingness to pay for e.g. AI coding tools is mind boggling. That alone is an enormous market.

Again, this is not a sign that it isn't a bubble. The tulip craze is textbook example for this.

Just so we see eye to eye, I'm not saying it is one, I am saying we do not know. People always find new ways to delude themselves into a bubble, and outreason themselves of very clear signs of one. Don't think you are above the many many investors, some good, that lost a lot by not recognizing a bubble.

[u/Green_Struggle_1815 → u/MdxBhmt]

lmao no. It's much more complex than that.

things usually are, but that's what it boils down too.

Just so we see eye to eye, I'm not saying it is one,

nor am i saying it doesn't have the chance of becoming one. Bubbles events usually are described with 'but this ones different', but in this case I do believe it due to the political implications, it's self fueling nature etc. If you are MS, google, facebook, usa, china... you simply can not afford to pull out.

Google learned it first hand how quickly their search was rendered near useless.

[u/floydhwung]

The Chinese are not buying, that’s all.

[u/sirspate]

Data processing is one of the easier things to outsource, once you strip the PII (or more likely, have the appropriate licensing agreements). This sale is probably an indicator that companies are building out surplus processing elsewhere instead of in the US.

[u/Zenith251]

I genuinely would love to know how many $5k, 8k, 10k, and 10k+ CPUs consumer oriented retailers like Newegg move per year strictly through their consumer facing store.

Like.... Just how many people or companies are getting their 5k+ CPUs through consumer channels versus through large enterprise contracts, commercial wholesalers, large SI's like Supermicro, or smaller SI's like Falcon Northwest.

So far I can only imagine it's a fraction of 1% of the units moved. Anyone have any insight?

[u/Unlucky-Context]

I want this to mean Hetzner will now offer Turin and Granite Ridge in their dedicated line...

[u/Limit_Cycle8765]

I wonder if there is about to be a 3rd competitor in this area and the price decreases are meant to damage the new comer.

[u/zoson]

Now do the xeon 2500 and 3500 cpus!

[u/VivienneNovag]

There is a possibility that those chips have malware in them and need to be moved fast, or the ones coming after have malware in them and the rest of the stock has to be cleared.

Just considering the 10% buyin of the us government into intel

Edit: mallard changed to malware

[u/Invest0rnoob1]

They’re probably releasing new chips in a few months.

[u/Professional-Tear996 → u/Invest0rnoob1]

Nothing new is coming until H2 2026. Even then, retail availability doesn't mean it has to coincide with an upgrade cycle of an organisation that might be interested in buying them.

[u/noiserr → u/Professional-Tear996]

Nothing new is coming until H2 2026.

AMD's new server (Venice) CPU is coming out on 2nm. It was taped out back in April: https://www.hpcwire.com/off-the-wire/amd-tapes-out-1st-hpc-product-on-tsmc-2nm-process-with-venice-epyc-cpu/

So that release could happen in H1 2026.

[u/Professional-Tear996 → u/noiserr]

Theoretically, yes. But I don't recollect AMD launching EPYC in the first half of any year, other than maybe Milan-X IIRC, so it is unlikely. But I have no doubt that Venice will be the first product of any kind - HPC or mobile - on N2.

[u/SteakandChickenMan → u/Professional-Tear996]

Kinda nice though. You usually have to go through official channels to get these kinds of numbers (though I’m sure it’s even cheaper for them now).

[u/Exist50 → u/Invest0rnoob1]

Neither Venice nor Diamond Rapids are due for a year or more.

[u/Invest0rnoob1 → u/Exist50]

Supposed to come out sometime in 2026.

[u/Exist50 → u/Invest0rnoob1]

Think Intel's publicly said H2 for DMR (insofar as their roadmap can be trusted), and it's very unlikely (though not impossible) AMD meets H1 for Venice.

[u/996forever → u/Exist50]

Venice Dense on N2. At the very least the Zen 6C versions will not come until late 2026.

[u/Exist50 → u/996forever]

N2 is, at least on paper, ready end of this year. Don't think that's necessarily the limiting factor.

[u/996forever → u/Exist50]

but do we know about volume

[u/Exist50 → u/996forever]

The dates TSMC gives are for volume. Historically, that's even meant iPhone levels of volume.

[u/Invest0rnoob1 → u/Exist50]

Haven’t seen a date for DMR

[u/HorrorCranberry1165]

Maybe they realized that reached planned profit level, so now can sell without profits

[u/Vushivushi]

• Seasonality

• Intel is actively ramping Granite Rapids

DAVID ZINSNER: ...in the process of ramping Granite Rapids, which will drive more volume of Intel 4.

• Price war for market share

INTC FORM 10-Q: Server ASPs decreased 8% from Q2 2024, primarily due to pricing actions taken in a competitive environment.

Server ASPs decreased by 9% from YTD 2024, primarily due to pricing actions taken in a competitive environment.

• Intel channel stuffing to keep the Intel 4/3 fabs hot

• Muted server CPU demand due to AI compute spend

[u/bubblesort33]

AI bubble collapse incoming?

[u/MdxBhmt → u/bubblesort33]

Would CPUs drop first? Maybe I missed a recent drop in GPU prices for datacenters ?

[u/bubblesort33 → u/MdxBhmt]

Are GPU data center prices public? I think all we have is speculation on what Nvidia charges for their most in demand stuff.

[u/anival024]

ShopBLT and Newegg

Those aren't real prices. Real prices are what you get from AMD / Intel directly, or what you get when buying through Dell / HP / etc.

If you're buying these chips at "retail", then you're paying over double the actual market rate to begin with.

[u/dezerx212256]

Yeah super margins, think that 5090 is value....

[u/TritiumNZlol]

Remember that every sale u see they still make a profit. Very seldom any company sells a product below their profit margin.

Loss leaders are pretty common in commoditized products like cpus. Retailers can make their margins back on perifierals and/or other components.

[u/InsanePacman → u/TritiumNZlol]

And also kickbacks from the manufacturers