Intel is preparing yet another CPU price increase in May

The bad news just keeps coming for DIY PC builders and enthusiasts, as Intel is reportedly preparing yet another price increase for its CPUs. Earlier, we reported that Intel would implement a 10% price increase by the end of March, and now it seems like that won't be enough for Intel.

Chinese market research firm Minutes Logic Society reports that Intel plans to add another price increase on top of the price hikes already implemented in February and March. The new price increase will reportedly take effect in May and affect Intel's entire CPU portfolio. It seems the total cumulative goal for the price hike is 30% above 2025 prices.

The main driving force behind these price increases is the raging demand from AI data centers and large machine-learning enterprises. We have already seen the DRAM market ravaged by a global memory shortage that is expected to last until 2030. Previously, AMD also followed Intel's lead and planned to increase its CPU prices by 15%. It seems like the pricing snowball is barreling down the slope with no end in sight.

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Intel is also reportedly making adjustments to its manufacturing process to increase production speed, but the pace of manufacturing can never increase at the same rate as demand. Intel also has a unique packaging problem where, while the majority of CPU production is internal, they still require TSMC silicon to be finished and shipped. This leads to a stall in the production process, which is out of Intel's control, while TSMC is heavily backed up in 2026.

GPU prices have already been on the rise for the past few years. Now, it seems like CPUs are also joining the same trend. This projection is supported by recent changes in CPU demand in AI data centers. While the bulk of the computing is still handled by GPUs, we are seeing a shift in the CPU-to-GPU ratio due to how modern AI is used. This leads to increased CPU demand that Intel, AMD, and Arm are struggling to match.