Question What's up with AMD's pricing?

[GunsMadeAmericaFree]

Back in December, I bought a 3000g processor from Amazon for $50 to use to build a system for my parents. I was thinking about getting another to build a second system, and when I checked yesterday the price was100% more. (today it is down to 70% higher) What the heck?

Why would the price nearly double in a couple of months, especially for a very budget processor? Is AMD artificially keeping supply low related to demand?

 

[gdansk]

They cannot produce enough. They now prioritize large customers and higher average selling price products.

Edit: And I wouldn't describe as artificial. They can only make so many products and those are the ones they decided not to make. Mind you that AMD doesn't make more money when retailers increase the price, they are still selling to distributors at their (same old) wholesale prices.

 

[GunsMadeAmericaFree]

Curious. So is this issue likely to persist for a long while? I thought things were strange when I looked online, and saw that I could sell the Ryzen 1600 that I bought for $80 new, for at least $120 used on Ebay.

 

[damian101]

Raising the prices when demand is higher than supply is the natural thing to do.
Artifically keeping the supply low is something you do when prices are too low for sales to be profitable.

 

[dullard]

There is a world-wide chip shortage. This is true of many different types of electrical components, but especially true with CPUs. Neither AMD nor Intel can keep up. With all the unexpected work-from-home, it is no wonder that CPUs are in short supply. Cryptocurrencies nearly tripling in price in the last 2 months doesn't help either. People buy the cheap CPUs and load them up with as many GPUs as possible.

This will likely continue for several more months. Depending on the component, all available production is already spoken for during all of 2021. So the shortages of some chips will continue until at least 2022.

 

[jpiniero]

Raising the prices when demand is higher than supply is the natural thing to do.
Artifically keeping the supply low is something you do when prices are too low for sales to be profitable.

AMD probably isn't reaping that much of a benefit from the shortage.

 

[damian101]

AMD probably isn't reaping that much of a benefit from the shortage.

Yes, Intel is probably the only one of the big semiconductor companies who really benefitted from the strong increase in demand due to Covid-19.

 

[VirtualLarry]

You want an alternative? I hate to suggest this, before I've stocked up myself, but have you considered an Intel G6400 Pentium Gold G6400? It's a 2C/4T, 4.0Ghz with Intel HD630 iGPU. Not super-impressive, and for purely APU gaming, I would rather probably have the A3000G. But... as far as pricing and availability goes, the G6400 is VERY available still, and that keeps pricing pretty-much @ MSRP. (I've seen it for $59.99 online boxed version. $66.99 on ebay, and roughly that on Newegg.)

Intel mobos are undergoing a phase-out of the older ones, and the new 500-series is becoming available, for sadly higher prices than the 400-series. My money has been on the ASRock H470M-ITX/ac, as an all-around good board for entry-level builds. It retails for around $120, and has 2.5GbE-T ethernet and AC Wifi 5 built-in.

 

[jpiniero]

Yes, Intel is probably the only one of the big semiconductor companies who really benefitted from the strong increase in demand due to Covid-19.

Even pricewise. They aren't getting any benefit from any price hikes, it's the distributors and retailers who are making out.

 

[moinmoin]

So is this issue likely to persist for a long while?

I've been watching the 3000G in Germany for the last couple months, since November it's essentially never available, with the scarce units being a lot more expensive than MSRP. Bummer since it's a really good normally inexpensive entry chip to the AM4 platform. I guess the die is used for all those education Chromebooks or something instead.