Question How will Covid-19 affect the cpu industry??? Will there be a lasting effect?

[iamgenius]

We have been seeing excellent achievements by AMD lately, and the giant intel just can't keep up with them in certain areas. The long gone competition is back since ryzen and I have been enjoying it. I was looking at the Ryzen™ Threadripper™ 3990X to build my next virtualization behemoth, or at least the 3970X. I probably don't need all this power but it is just great having such gear. I should start building this machine next year. What will happen to prices, availability during this unexpected pandemic? What will happen to intel's new process? Will they still be able to pull it off in the scheduled time even though they delayed it many times before without such difficulties? Workforce cut and working in shifts or working remotely, I wonder how all this will impact Intel's roadmap.


Thanks.

 

[moinmoin]

True, but it seems most of the wealthy countries are being hit hard, with a resultant loss of aggregate earnings. If individuals have less money to spend on non-essentials, then what do you see as to buying habits for the rest of the year? For example, loans might have a moratorium, but present debts will still have to be repaid. An individual might lose 2-3 months earnings but still have the full debt load. In my opinion purchases of computers as a total number will drop. We will continue with what we have for a longer period than normal.

This is getting off topic, but this is fully dependent on how the individual countries handle the effects of the pandemic on their citizens. Many countries are giving one or several times payouts, in case of Spain there are plans (likely not successful, just an example of what's possible) for an unconditional basic income that may persist even after the pandemic etc. Depending on how each of them react the population's purchasing power will be different which again obviously affects demand.

 

[maddie]

This is getting off topic, but this is fully dependent on how the individual countries handle the effects of the pandemic on their citizens. Many countries are giving one or several times payouts, in case of Spain there are plans (likely not successful, just an example of what's possible) for an unconditional basic income that may persist even after the pandemic etc. Depending on how each of them react the population's purchasing power will be different which again obviously affects demand.

Actually I don't see this as off topic. In my opinion, demand will drive sales. They all seem to be concentrating on sticking with previous plans as much as possible. Having a level of production that cannot be sold in volumes previously accepted as normal will disrupt companies. Realistically though, I can't see companies doing anything different at this time as no one has a clear idea yet as to the full fallout. Might as well continue as normal and hope for the best.

 

[mikegg]

True, but it seems most of the wealthy countries are being hit hard, with a resultant loss of aggregate earnings. If individuals have less money to spend on non-essentials, then what do you see as to buying habits for the rest of the year? For example, loans might have a moratorium, but present debts will still have to be repaid. An individual might lose 2-3 months earnings but still have the full debt load. In my opinion purchases of computers as a total number will drop. We will continue with what we have for a longer period than normal.

I also think that consumer and business computer spending will drop significantly this year. Whatever surge in laptop demand will be short-lived as businesses lay off workers and consumers don't consider laptops as essential.

However, we should see an increase in CPU demand from hyperscalers as people spend more time on the internet. But I don't expect AMD or Intel's revenue to increase as a result because their consumer and business segments will suffer greatly.

 

[beginner99]

It's quite easy for design engineers to work from home. What makes you think it's not the case?

coordination between team members I guess? I prefer f2f. Just more efficent for more complex topics.

 

[chrisjames61]

As far as buying hardware it has been taking a toll for months. Most desirable motherboards have been out of stock at various online retailers for a long period of time. Not to mention monitors are scarce.