Intel global channel chief on CPU shortage: ‘Everyone is impacted’

“Partners are not getting as much product from us as they would like. That's probably universal,” says Dave Guzzi

Intel global channel chief Dave Guzzi said the chipmaker’s CPU supply constraints are likely impacting every partner “across the board,” but he doesn’t anticipate potential shortage-related price increases to come close to what’s happening with memory chips.

“I think that probably across the board, partners are not getting as much product from us as they would like. I think that's probably universal.

“Cloud service providers], OEMs, builders, just across the board,” he tells CRN.

For the past several months, the California-based company has been dealing with a shortage of CPUs that has been driven by higher-than-expected demand from hyperscalers and other companies building AI datacentres as well as customers buying PCs using older generations of client processors such as the “Raptor Lake” products.

In the face of the supply constraints, Guzzi says CPU prices will “probably” go up, but any changes will be minor compared with skyrocketing prices of DRAM and NAND chips.

“There may be some relatively small price changes [for CPUs], but nothing like what we’re seeing in the memory market.”

Last October, Intel CFO David Zinser hinted at price increases when he said Intel would adjust pricing and product mix to “shift demands towards products where we have supply and they have demand.”

Zinsner said in January that the semiconductor giant expects supply constraints to peak in the first quarter, which ends in March, with the company expecting production capacity to improve every subsequent quarter as it ramps up tool spending.

The situation has prompted Intel to prioritise server CPUs whenever possible and focus on midrange and high-end CPUs for PCs, according to the CFO.

With partners receiving fewer CPUs than they need, the shortage put a strain on Intel’s revenue in last year’s Q4, with a significant impact on the datacentre side, and it also hurt the company’s first-quarter revenue forecast.

“We do expect it will improve. We knew this quarter was going to be very difficult. I think we’ve been clear about that,” notes Guzzi.

“We’ve been public about it, but we’re also optimistic for the full year.”

While Intel cited heavy demand from hyperscalers as one big factor for the CPU shortage, Guzzi says supply constraints are being felt by all customers and partners.

“Our request of our partners is to be patient and know that everyone is impacted.

“It’s not like we gave all the product to one customer and the rest of the world is suffering. It’s across the board. We're trying to do the best we can.”

While the global channel chief notes that the “cost of everything that we use to build a product is increasing,” Guzzi says Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan and Zinsner have been “hyper focused” on reducing costs by making the company more efficient.

“That’s to [provide better returns] to our shareholders, but part of it is so that perhaps we can improve our margins with minimal changes to our pricing or have the ability to remain hyper competitive in a market,” he adds.

An Intel spokesperson tells CRN that the company remains “committed to the entry-level PC and other client segments that are critical to our channel partner” as it prioritises “production of high-performance CPUs to support growing AI and infrastructure needs.”

“We’re actively working to increase supply across multiple manufacturing nodes and expanding capacity across our global supply chain to improve product availability in the coming months,” the representative adds, noting that the company continues to see “very strong” demand across both client and datacentre markets.

Channel execs see Intel CPU shortage hit Chromebooks

One Intel channel partner feeling the impact is Virginia-based systems integrator NCS Technologies, both as an OEM system reseller and as a rugged server builder.

“Intel has been communicating some of the constraints on their lower-end parts, and I know they’re prioritising their higher-end components,” says Mike Turicchi, VP of marketing and strategic relations at NCS Technologies.

“They’re more profitable, and based on availability, they’re going to prioritise the most profitable parts when there’s a shortage.”

On the OEM side, he explains that the solution provider is seeing major supply issues with Intel-powered Chromebooks, with vendors telling his company that “it could be a year before we can get product on any new orders.”

For its rugged server business, Turicchi says, lead times for Intel’s entry-level and midrange Xeon processors are extending out to “as much as six months for any new orders.”

Greg King, VP of vendor management at Pennsylvania-based D&H Distributing, says he has heard about modest price increases for Intel CPUs coming in March but adds that the only supply issues he’s seeing with the chipmaker are around Intel-based Chromebooks.

“We are definitely seeing shortages on Intel Chromebooks, and many partners are looking at MediaTek alternatives,” he says of a Taiwanese competitor that provides CPUs for such devices.

MediaTek did not respond to a request for comment.

King views the memory shortage, which is also being driven by the AI datacentre boom, as a much bigger problem, saying that it’s the main reason for education customers pulling in Chromebook orders by one or two months “to get ahead of price increases.”

“It may come out of the gates really strong, but it’s going to be pretty difficult [from] let’s say June through the rest of the calendar year,” he says of Chromebook availability.

Erik Stromquist, chairman and former CEO of Oregon-based ChromeOS device provider CTL, says he has seen Intel de-emphasise entry-level processors before but it rarely lasts.

“And then, of course, they realise what they’ve done, and then they come back in a big way. They’ve done that time and time again,” says Stromquist, who hasn’t been involved in CTL’s day-to-day operations since 2024.

“So the question is, will Intel realise their missteps and come back, or is this a permanent exodus?”

While AMD and MediaTek provide CPUs for Chromebooks, Stromquist highlights that it takes time for OEMs to build new reference designs based on new processors.

“If OEMs built their product pipeline in 2026 on Intel, which many people do, and they had such a successful channel programme, then it makes it difficult to switch on the fly.”

This article originally appeared on CRN UK sister website CRN.