Intel seems to be cutting back its price hike by planning up to 20% price cuts on its 12th Gen Desktop CPU lineup.
Intel Preps Up To 20% Price Cuts For Its 12th Gen Alder Lake Desktop CPUs, Cites Industry Sources
Update (2/2/2023): Intel has confirmed that they won't be offering any price cuts on their CPU lineup and the original story is false. Following is the full response from MyDrivers:
The news about "Intel PC processor price reduction" circulating recently is false news.
Currently, we have the 11th, 12th and 13th generation Core product families for users to choose from at various price points, and Intel is working with OEMs to find new opportunities and new demands in the market to reduce inventory.
According to a report by DigiTimes, it looks like Intel is planning to cut back on its recent price hikes which raised CPU prices by up to 10% earlier in January. Now less than a month since the new price increase was announced, it looks like the company is backing out and preparing to slash them by up to 20%.
The new price cuts will reportedly affect Intel's entire 12th-Gen Alder Lake CPU family including the top Core i9 SKUs. It's always good news to see price cuts but this particular move might be due to the recent earnings which saw the client computing group decline by 36% compared to last year & 23% compared to the previous quarter. Not only were the earnings bad but it was also reported that Intel was flooding the PC market with its chips to compete against AMD. But considering that the PC market itself was in decline, stores across the globe are now sitting with shelves full of Intel products that no one wants to buy.
That might be a few reasons why Intel is planning the price cut. As for the prices themselves, the 20% or so price cut will bring the prices below the MSRPs of the 12th Gen Alder Lake CPU lineup (atleast on paper). The Intel Core i9-12900K which is the most expensive 12th Gen CPU currently has a price of $648 US (after the recent price hike). After a 20% price cut, this would fall down to $518 US which is below its $589 US RCP. Following is a chart that was made by Harukaze5719 to elaborate on the price cuts:
Intel's 12th Gen Updated Pricing (Q1 2023)
| CPU Name | Original RCP | RCP (+10% Hike) | New RCP (-20% Cut) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Core i9-12900K | $589 US | $648 US | $518 US |
| Core i9-12900KF | $564 US | $620 US | $496 US |
| Core i9-12900 | $489 US | $538 US | $430 US |
| Core i9-12900F | $464 US | $510 US | $408 US |
| Core i7-12700K | $409 US | $450 US | $360 US |
| Core i7-12700KF | $384 US | $422 US | $338 US |
| Core i7-12700 | $339 US | $373 US | $298 US |
| Core i7-12700F | $314 US | $345 US | $276 US |
| Core i5-12600K | $289 US | $318 US | $254 US |
| Core i5-12600KF | $264 US | $290 US | $232 US |
| Core i5-12600 | $223 US | $245 US | $196 US |
| Core i5-12500 | $202 US | $222 US | $178 US |
| Core i5-12400 | $192 US | $211 US | $169 US |
| Core i5-12400F | $167 US | $184 US | $147 US |
| Core i3-12300 | $143 US | $157 US | $126 US |
| Core i3-12100 | $122 US | $134 US | $107 US |
| Core i3-12100F | $97 US | $107 US | $86 US |
If this turns out to be true, then it will be good news for consumers who were waiting to buy a 12th Gen CPUs only to see the prices go up previously. At the same time, these price cuts will negatively affect Intel's margins but that's the bitter pill they are willing to swallow too clear away the excess of CPU inventories.
News Source: Videocardz
