Just when you thought the component shortage couldn’t get much worse, processors will apparently become more expensive and difficult to find with immediate effect. Sources claim these problems will affect AMD and Intel chips, as both manufacturers are assigning more capacity to server models at the expense of consumer CPUs.
Financial newspaper Nikkei Asia claims that both AMD and Intel have informed clients that they should expect price increases across all processor lines. More specifically, the companies anticipate an average rise of 10-15%, with some SKUs reaching a higher, albeit unspecified, ceiling.
An executive at an unnamed gaming PC company tells Nikkei Asia that it expects CPU shortages to properly take hold in Q2 2026, which begins in just under a week from the time of writing. The executive states that “Intel and AMD have prioritised capacity for server CPUs,” creating a stock bottleneck for consumer chips that will lead to substantially less stock relative to Q1.
Asus’ general manager of systems and business, Jose Liao, made similar claims to Nikkei Asia. “The supply gap is indeed widening and expecting to continue,” says Liao, specifically highlighting that x86 chips will be the most affected.
The shortage that CPUs face is no different from that of the RAM crisis, born out of the insatiable demand for components from AI businesses. Like memory manufacturers, neither AMD nor Intel can magically scale up production capacity to meet this higher volume of purchases. Unfortunately for consumers, enterprise simply makes far more financial sense as a focus.
Given all the above, I’m curious to see whether Intel’s new Core Ultra 7 270K Plus and Core Ultra 5 250K Plus processors maintain their launch MSRPs. On the other side of the aisle, what does this mean for the rumoured Ryzen 5 9650X and 7 9750X? We shouldn’t have to wait long to find out.
If you’re considering a processor upgrade, I’d strike now. Should the shortage described above come to pass, CPUs won’t become any cheaper for a while. As a reminder, the Ryzen 7 9800X3D is currently available at its lowest ever price if you’re after a CPU deal.
For buying advice about the latest processors, check out our best CPU guide for a full list of recommendations.
