Intel To Slash Prices of 12th Gen Desktop CPU Prices By Up To 20% To Clear Away Inventory

Intel seems to be cutting back its price hike by planning up to 20% price cuts on its 12th Gen Desktop CPU lineup.

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:

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