Intel's desktop CPU business isn't going well, given that the firm has now revealed that Raptor Lake has managed to attract more interest than the newer CPU lineups.
Intel's Arrow Lake & Lunar Lake CPUs Are Being Ditched By Customers For Raptor Lake, Likely Due To Higher Perf/$ Value
When it comes to Intel and the desktop CPU segment, well, Team Blue hasn't managed to keep up with the performance upgrades, especially after the Raptor Lake lineup. Newer architectures like the Arrow Lake "Core Ultra 200S" are not only disappointing in terms of performance, but with competition mounting from the likes of AMD, Intel is finding it difficult to sustain a hold over the CPU market. In the recent earnings call, Intel's Products CEO Michelle Johnston Holtahus disclosed that Raptor Lake products (N-1, N-2) are seeing far more attention compared to Lunar Lake and Arrow Lake, raising questions about the firm's approach to the markets.
What we're really seeing is much greater demand from our customers for n-1 and n-2 products so that they can continue to deliver system price points that consumers are really demanding.
As we've all talked about, the macroeconomic concerns and tariffs have everybody kind of hedging their bets and what they need to have from an inventory perspective. And Raptor Lake is a great part. Meteor Lake and Lunar Lake are great as well, but come with a much higher cost structure, not only for us, but at the system ASP price points for our OEMs as well.
- Intel's Products CEO
The important point to note here is that the demand for current-gen Intel CPUs is so terrible that consumers are now referring to a lineup that has been plagued with instability issues. For those who don't remember, Intel's 14th Gen and 13th Gen processors faced inconsistent performance issues, which caused widespread crashes and degradation, and it was a whole new fiasco that wasn't resolved even to date. Interestingly, Raptor Lake demand has reached a point where Intel now reports a shortage of its "Intel 7" node, which was featured with the CPUs.
The demand for Raptor Lake is also high since consumers are resorting to CPUs after Trump's latest tariffs in an attempt to snag the old yet capable processors at old prices. Given that the supply chain is expected to increase component pricing soon, consumers are apparently front-running the situation by acquiring Intel's older processors, which is why Raptor Lake has seen high interest from the market.
About the author: Muhammad Zuhair is a hardware and technology reporter for Wccftech, specializing in the semiconductor industry and the complex interplay between technology, manufacturing, and geopolitics. His coverage focuses on the corporate strategies and technological roadmaps of industry giants like TSMC, NVIDIA, Samsung, and Intel. Zuhair's expertise lies in deconstructing complex topics such as fabrication nodes (e.g., 2nm process), the economic impact of policies like the CHIPS Act, and the strategic development of AI infrastructure from NVIDIA, AMD and Intel.
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