The CPU market has entered a period of turbulence. According to Chinese distributors, prices for Intel and AMD chips surged sharply in early November, catching retailers and wholesalers off guard.
Price increases have mainly affected older processor generations, while the latest Intel Core Ultra 200 (Arrow Lake) and AMD Ryzen 9000 families have so far retained their existing price levels.
In particular, Intel’s 12th, 13th and 14th generation lines and AMD’s Ryzen 5000 series — widely used on AM4 platforms — are seeing notable hikes. AMD price tags have risen by roughly $5–$20 per unit, which is quickly filtering through to retail prices. Several major warehouses have even paused shipments temporarily as they await further price adjustments.
Industry observers point to growing demand from AI projects and data centers as the main driver, which is reducing the availability of components for older CPUs. Manufacturing of the Ryzen 5000 line is being phased out, so these chips are expected to become increasingly scarce.
The Ryzen 7000 series is not exempt from the trend and has already begun to climb in price; in some stores the Ryzen 5 7600X is up by roughly 10%. Experts recommend buying older CPUs sooner rather than later, since prices are likely to continue rising while stock levels decline.
Source: iXBT.games