Amazon sold 60% fewer CPUs than a year ago, pointing to a stalled PC refresh cycle

[BadThad]

CPU's have grown powerful enough they meet the demands of users easily for a longer period of time. The problem is the stuff around them like RAM. My CPU is 5 years old now, 10 core/20 threads is more than I need 95% of the time. I have no upgrade plan unless I have catastrophic failure.

 

[Eldrach]

The AI bubble is already seeing some decline - but yes, this will most likely last until at least mid 2027.
OpenAI is getting hammered after Nvidia started backing out of the 100 billion deal - Microsoft is seeing a decline after people started getting fed up with having AI pushed into every single program.
The market isn’t willing to pay 30 usd a month per user to get better AI access.
Once the stock market realize that money going in - doesn’t translate to money coming out on the other end..that’s where we’ll see the crash

 

[loki1944]

I feel like laptops will become a lot more popular in the next few years. Specifically, the ones with decent graphics.

Well laptops die way more easily.

 

[Thatsdisgusting]

Do people seriously think that mid term prices, between crypto and ai bubbles were “normal” period? When you have 2K-3K$ flagships for da gamez and 1000$ midtier right next to it? Both ada and blackwell, skewed overpriced gens from day one, with one big chip and series of small silicon leftovers, each one is upsell for the more expensive.

For leatherjacket, bubble never really bursted, it is still seamless money waterfall experience for him. I just remind you that ethereum went PoS september 2022 and just right after, first chatgpt release, november 2022. Leatherjacket sold all his amperes with 300% margin and started shoveling hopper with 500% margin just a moment later, literally.

 

[n3o127]

CPU/GPU/Memory Market Reality Today

• There’s nothing stalled about component sales right now.
• Record profits continue across CPUs, GPUs, and memory.
• Inventory stays low or sold out, and that’s largely by design.
• Meanwhile, enthusiast desktops and PC gaming rigs have collapsed in sales, not because the tech is weak, but because the pricing has pushed everyday buyers out.

The Bigger Questions for the Future

• Will the enthusiast PC market ever return to what it once was?
• Will high‑performance hardware ever be affordable again for the masses?
• Or are we watching a deliberate shift where:
• Built‑in graphics and minimal RAM become “good enough”,
• And cloud gaming becomes the default path for most players?

The Strategic (planned?) Shift

• Cloud gaming works perfectly fine on low‑end hardware.
• That model delivers far higher profit margins for mega‑tech companies.
• If this trend continues, the industry may effectively push gamers toward cloud ecosystems, reducing the need for powerful local hardware and reshaping the entire PC gaming landscape.

 

[obsidian76]

CPU/GPU/Memory Market Reality Today

• There’s nothing stalled about component sales right now.
• Record profits continue across CPUs, GPUs, and memory.
• Inventory stays low or sold out, and that’s largely by design.
• Meanwhile, enthusiast desktops and PC gaming rigs have collapsed in sales, not because the tech is weak, but because the pricing has pushed everyday buyers out.

The Bigger Questions for the Future

• Will the enthusiast PC market ever return to what it once was?
• Will high‑performance hardware ever be affordable again for the masses?
• Or are we watching a deliberate shift where:
• Built‑in graphics and minimal RAM become “good enough”,
• And cloud gaming becomes the default path for most players?

The Strategic (planned?) Shift

• Cloud gaming works perfectly fine on low‑end hardware.
• That model delivers far higher profit margins for mega‑tech companies.
• If this trend continues, the industry may effectively push gamers toward cloud ecosystems, reducing the need for powerful local hardware and reshaping the entire PC gaming landscape.

The industry has made multiple attempts to drive users back to the 1970s centralised model of dumb clients attached to ofsite mainframe since the birth of the PC industry, each attempt thus far has failed to move the dial, will the industry succeed this time around?

 

[Rocky4040]

Maybe their sales are down from last year for a few reasons. There have not been any or at least many new CPUs released. Amazon also does not seem to watch for people price gouging that sell hardware at very over inflated prices when compared to other stores. I was looking for a CPU on Amazon about a month ago and what I found was way too many overpriced CPUs or long wait times to get the product. I was looking for one model of CPU though, so my searches were limited to just that one model of CPU.

I ended up getting my CPU from Newegg at a much better price and it showed up in 2 days. Yes, all online store fronts can have their own set of problems. In my case though I was not willing to wait 3-4 weeks or pay an extra $100-$150 for the CPU I wanted oor have to worry about being scammed with a used product or a CPU getting sent that is not what I ordered. I do buy a lot of stuff off of Amazon, but electronics is not one of those things.

 

[LemmingO]

RAM is through the roof.
SSDs are through the roof.
The ecosystem is dying.

Why upgrade? Why buy a PC, even?

The AI scam is ruining entire industries, and who knows... countries.

Soon we'll have no one employed, we'll consume regurgitated AI **** (because it can't create anything new), everyone living on benefits, and Jen-Hsun Huang will be sitting on a pile of money the world is yet to bear witness to.