PC manufacturers: CPU shortage already more acute than memory shortage

Fears of an acute shortage of processors for notebooks and desktop PCs appear to be coming true. Manufacturers complain that Intel, in particular, cannot fulfill their orders. On the one hand, too few models are arriving, and on the other hand, Intel is allegedly pushing for a switch to the current, but more expensive, Core Ultra 300 and Core 300 generations.

The news agency Nikkei Asia reports on this, citing several industry sources. Until now, notebooks with older Raptor Lake processors were popular due to their price-performance ratio. Raptor Lake was originally released as Core i-1300 and Core i-13000, and Intel later re-released them as Core 100 and Core 200.

Raptor Lake models remain popular in Germany as well. The most searched-for notebook with an Intel CPU in the Geizhals price comparison is a device with a Core i7-13650HX. The Top 30 include eleven Raptor Lake notebooks.

Focus on servers

However, since the end of 2025, Intel has shifted production capacities to high-margin server processors and apparently prefers to sell remaining Raptor Lake CPUs to manufacturers of industrial PCs because higher prices are also possible there. The supply situation is said to have even improved here. Raptor Lake is still manufactured using older Intel 7 manufacturing technology, which the company also uses for the Xeon 5 series Emerald Rapids and the I/O dies of the Xeon 6 CPUs.

Since the advent of AI agents, cloud hyperscalers and server operators are buying more processors again. Both AMD and Intel are fully booked.

Nikkei Asia quotes an exemplary manager of a PC manufacturer who, according to his statement, ordered 100 processors with Intel 7 technology. 30 CPUs have reportedly arrived, but among them were ten models with Intel 18A technology, i.e., Core Ultra 300 (Panther Lake) or Core 300 (Wildcat Lake). Manufacturers see themselves forced to accept these models despite higher prices to get processors at all.

Processor crisis acute

Another manager reportedly pointed out that the processor shortage is now said to be more severe than the memory shortage. “We can lower the density and specification for memory capacity, but we can't ship a notebook or computer without a CPU. That's a big problem,” the news agency quotes the source as saying.

“Frankly speaking, PC makers designed a few models based on 18A last year mainly as a favor to Intel, as the chip is expensive and the market demand is relatively small because it is too premium,” the executive said. “But now the situation is completely different. We have to do more 18A models; otherwise, it will give CPUs to others.” (mma)