Intel is planning a widespread price hike for its processors, according to German wholesalers. Reportedly, Intel needs to raise funds to finance new factories and restructure the company, and increasing its gaming CPU prices will give it the capital it needs to push through major changes. This will affect team blue’s existing lineup, as well as upcoming releases like the Raptor Lake Refresh.
This news was revealed in a post from ‘poker clock’ on the PC Games Hardware forum. This hardware enthusiast states that Intel plans to increase the price of its CPUs sometime in the next couple of weeks. This was verified by PC Games Hardware, who reached out to several German wholesalers to confirm that they’d received a letter from Intel detailing price rises.
Apparently, all Intel Core processors are set to become more expensive, including those available to purchase now, and those currently in production. That means Alder Lake, Raptor Lake, and Raptor Lake Refresh will all be affected. The hike will also hit CPUs arriving as part of the Intel Meteor Lake rebrand, such as the rumored Core Ultra processors.
As the news specifically targets Intel CPUs in production, we believe team blue’s GPU range is unlikely to be impacted. That includes existing cards like the Intel Arc A770, as well as Intel Battlemage GPUs.
This move, likely to prove unpopular with consumers, will be made to support Intel’s consolidation strategy This includes a restructure, and the funding of new manufacturing plants such as the proposed $18 billion chip-producing site in Magdeburg, Germany.
We’re not sure when this price hike will be pushed through, or how much the increase will be. But if it’s a substantial increase, it could have an impact on our best gaming CPU list, with value for money being a major factor in determining whether we recommend a processor to the public.