During Intel’s latest earnings conference call, CEO Lip-Bu Tan said demand for its budget-focused Wildcat Lake chips “is outstripping supply.” According to CFO David Zinsner, the chips are already out of stock. Zinsner said Intel has “seen significant growth in Wildcat Lake. It comes at exactly the right time because it’s cost-optimized and we’re seeing a lot of focus on that.”
As shortages of RAM and other components have driven up PC prices in recent months, Intel’s Wildcat Lake chips have been showing up in new, lower-cost Windows laptops on par with the MacBook Neo, like the new Dell
Intel doesn’t expect the memory shortage to improve anytime soon. Zinsner responded to a question about memory supply by saying, “Make no mistake, we are not optimistic about next year in terms of memory.” He added: “We’ll have to see in the 28th if things improve, but our expectation is that it won’t improve in the 27th.” This is more optimistic than SK Hynix’s prediction that the RAM shortage will last until 2030.
Tan also acknowledged the slowdown in PC demand, saying: “The industry continues to experience one of the most significant supply shortages in the world.” [sic] history, driven by unprecedented demand for superintelligence,” referring to AI. Zinsner responded to a question during the earnings call and said, “We think the PC is going to experience a renaissance despite this.”
