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Asustek and Intel confirm global shortage of Intel “Skylake” chips

Chief executive officer of Asustek Computer confirmed on Friday that there is a shortage of Intel Corp.’s “Skylake” processors in the market. Last month a Sweden-based retailer warned enthusiasts about short supply of Intel’s new central processing units with unlocked multiplier. As it appears, the problem is not limited to desktop chips, but also concerns mobile CPUs. Intel admits that there is a shortage of new processors and vows to increase availability.

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Apparently, the ramp of certain Intel’s microprocessors produced using 14nm process technology will be rather slow in the third quarter of the year. The reasons for limited supplies and sluggish ramp up are unknown, but not all Intel Core “Skylake” models with unlocked multiplier are available everywhere in the U.S. and Europe*. Moreover, Intel Core i7-5775C and Core i5-5665C “Broadwell” are not even offered by numerous major online stores**. While there are notebooks with “Broadwell” processors available, the amount of mobile “Skylake” chips Intel plans to ship in August is limited and will only get slightly higher in September.

“In September we are going to produce a lot of ‘Skylake’ products, but we expect significant shortage of ‘Skylake’ globally, not just for Asus,” said Jerry Shen, chief executive officer of Asustek Computer, during the company’s earnings conference with investors and financial analysts***. “That is why in August we have Windows 10[-based products], but ‘Skylake’ only accounts for a very small percentage. In the fourth quarter, ‘Skylake’ will take a higher percentage. […] Skylake is in significant shortage right now in the third quarter.”

The reasons for tight supply of Intel’s latest CPUs are not clear, but it is possible that Intel strategically delays high-volume shipments of certain “Skylake” parts in order to give its customers time to sell off existing central processing units.

Intel admitted that the “Skylake” processors are in short supply and promised to improve availability later in the third quarter.

“We are experiencing supply tightness due to strong demand and expect additional volume to be available as Q3 progresses,” said Daniel Snyder, a spokesman for Intel.

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It should be noted that nowadays the vast majority of personal computers are shipped by sea. It takes 42 days (including customs) for a ship to reach Europe from Taiwan, according to Asustek. Freight shipping time from Taiwan to the U.S. is around 20 days. As a result, after Asus (or other PC makers) gets the new processors and manufactures its computers, it will take at least 1.5 months for actual products to reach the market.

If Intel increases supply of “Skylake” products in late September, actual chips will show up in retail one to four weeks after it ships chips to its clients (i.e., in October). However, actual notebooks powered by “Skylake” processors will only get to the market in November.

*At press time, Overclockers.co.uk did not have Intel Core i7-6700K in OEM packaging in stock, Newegg.com did not have any Intel Core i7-6700K processors in stock and provided no ETA date, Caseking.de listed Intel Core i7-6700K as arriving on the 17th of August and did not provide ETA date for tray version of Intel Core i5-6600K.

**Including Overclockers.co.uk, Newegg.com.

***Please note that Jerry Shen spoke Chinese during the conference, which was synchronously translated by an Asus translator for the webcast. Certain inaccuracies might occur. The video of the conference as well as its transcript are available here.

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KitGuru Says: It looks like either not everything is well with yields of “Skylake” processors, or Intel wants to ensure that older chips are sold before it ramps up production of new CPUs.

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16 comments

  1. Waiting for release of cheaper locked desktop models, and specs & reviews thereof.

  2. bad roll-out or withholding to build up the hype?

  3. It is really a shortage or is someone trying to dramatize the impatience of early-adopters? It looks like certain models were coming first, and then the rest of it. That’s it to me, big freaking deal;there is no competition, what’s the hurry to debut the stuff all at once?

  4. Intel is not apple-It don’t need bullshit to sell it’s products.

    CPU Manufacturing is a slow process-so the slowdown of PC sales
    last few months could see excess stock of Haswell in the market that
    needs to be cleared……………………………………………

  5. Howards_cat_Tarzan

    PC sales goes down 10% year after year and that is even with Apple sales that goes up each year (Apple counts as PC sales).
    Maybe someone at Intel could start to reflect over this. Apple bought PA Semi that design Apples A series SoC. 2010-2015 single core performance is up 1000% and multithreaded is up 2500%. A8 beats 2011 iMacs.

    PASemi is a 300 million dollar company that manages to outdesing Intel.

    PC sales would not go down if Intel released 50-100% faster CPU each year. And Intel could have done that if they wanted. Instead Intel used their monopoly to use the die area to make crappy GPUs that customers are forced to buy. A 6-8 core Intel without graphics would cost intel zero extra to manufacture but its more fun to overcharge for non GPU CPUs as “Xeons”.

  6. Does not matter we can wait for 10nm processor , 2016

  7. “PC sales would not go down if Intel released 50-100% faster CPU each year.”

    I think that is what some enthusiast convince of themselves, but I don’t think that is true for the vast majority of regular folks that are setting the tone by not upgrading as often. I think they’ve moved on to other platforms and form factors, likely smartphones and tablets and consoles. So unless Intel follows suit, making a processor generation 500% won’t make a difference except to the minority of the world that lives for that stuff, i.e. enthusiasts.

    It is a logical fallacy to assume that just because regular people choose your favorite brand doesn’t mean they did so deliberately with just as much knowledge. Most just buy an OEM prebuilt, they don’t now what’s in their computer, forget how much faster a newer one is.

  8. sintheticreality2

    Crap. I may just have to order my 6700k whenever they become available instead of waiting until Xmas.

  9. The A8X beats 2011 iMacs because the iMacs thermal throttle. Second, no, Intel’s designs are still far more than twice as powerful than the A8X on desktop. They’d be even more powerful if software kept up with SIMD instructions. No one is out-designing Intel except IBM and Oracle for scale-up workloads, a very niche market.

  10. There is a rumor that the new high end MS Surface 4 will be using a Skylake processor. MS could have had a deal going with Intel to hoover up the chips before they can get to other less powerful AIBs.

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  12. 2017 cannonon lake has been delayed

  13. 1st of October and i7 6700k still out of stock here in Czech Republic, something went wrong really.

    seems like Intel trying to sold as much Haswells as they can atm

  14. Look at Broadwell and it’s % over Haswell. No difference. Shrinking the die is no longer working for Intel. They are working in the quantum world and strange things are happening as expected. More cores, different materials, 3d architecture are what Intel is working on. This will produce awesome advancement but it is no longer shrink and go fast.

  15. Diamanical Johnson

    Hopefully you didn’t wait til X-mas. I am wanting to upgrade and just not willing to pay the price that they are fetching in such short supply. I don’t have a problem with people selling them for whatever they can get, I’ll just ride it out until the prices recede. I’m running an i7-4770K now anyway, not like I’m hurting for power.

  16. I ended up getting a 980 Ti last month in preparation for the HTC Vive VR headset that just got pushed back to April 2016, but I’m not doing a full upgrade until around 2017. My current rig is more than enough to support 1st-generation VR.

    I do plan to get my oldest son a new PC in January/February, though.