THE CRUNCH
Industry sources cited by TechPowerUp report that Intel plans to raise the price of PC CPUs by approximately 10% in October. This move follows a series of staged price increases over the past year and is reportedly intended to improve gross margins rather than grow market share. The report also suggests Intel is considering ending its low-margin Small Core product line and cutting a further 5% to 10% of its workforce
The planned October price increase is reportedly aimed at boosting gross margins, with sources suggesting the move is not driven by a desire to capture more market share. Intel is reportedly considering ending its low-margin Small Core product line entirely, a move that could open the door for competitors like Qualcomm and MediaTek to expand further into the industrial PC and IoT chip markets that Intel currently leads. The report also notes that global PC shipments are expected to dip slightly from 260 million to about 250 million units in 2027, even as prices continue to climb.
On the staffing front, sources suggest Intel could cut another 5% to 10% of its workforce following the July reduction of its Data Center and AI group. Despite these cuts, sources claim Intel plans to continue hiring alongside any reductions, and that its current headcount of around 75,000 is already reasonable.