Chip shortage forcing AMD to prioritize flagship CPUs over lower-end offerings

[midian182]

TL;DR: The global semiconductor shortage looks to have claimed another victim: AMD's lower-end CPU offerings. Company CEO Lisa Su said the situation is forcing team red to prioritize its higher-end commercial and gaming processors, which are more in demand.

At an investor event earlier this week (via PCMag), Su was asked whether AMD would be shipping more CPUs if it had extra chip manufacturing capacity. "There is some compute that we're leaving underserviced," she replied. "So, I would say particularly, if you look at some of the segments in the PC market, sort of the lower end of the PC market. We have prioritized some of the higher-end commercial SKUs and gaming SKUs and those kinds of things."

The desirable Ryzen 5000 line has been one of the more difficult PC components to find at retail since they launched last November. They're also relatively expensive, with the cheapest Ryzen 5 5600X starting at $299.

"Probably the fact that the inventories are very lean throughout the supply chain, and so people are really now focused on, 'Hey, we're not ordering stuff to put it on the shelf, right? We're ordering stuff that end customers want,' and that's how we think about prioritization. Prioritizing sort of the end customer needs as we go forward," Su added.

AMD could be pushing out more CPUs sooner rather than later. The company last week confirmed that it is gradually transitioning the AMD Ryzen 5000 series desktop processors to a 'B2' revision over the next six months. These won't offer any noticeable changes compared to the current chips on the B0 stepping—it was initially thought they could be an XT refresh—but they might feature slight adjustments that improve yields, helping increase supply. Su said AMD hopes to add more manufacturing capacity over the “next couple of months.”

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https://www.techspot.com/news/89822-chip-shortage-forcing-amd-prioritize-flagship-cpus-over.html

 

[Dimitriid]

Not sure if this is the case but because of Zen 3 chip arrangement they might be effectively less room for them to produce Ryzen 3 chips. It's not a huge problem mind you but it does leave the door sort of open for intel with for example the 11400F that would probably be the default entry level recommendation if it wasn't for the higher price of motherboards and that apparently even on lower end chips can yield substantial performance differences.

Their current strategy of keeping the 3000 series around is sufficient for now but I do hope they don't just skip the non-x and Ryzen 3 SKUs altogether this generation.

 

[Bullwinkle M]

Focusing on Flagship CPU's and GPU's should have been the plan all along

By eliminating dozens of models and concentrating on getting 2 or 3 models "just right", the cost of flagship CPU's would drop to where everyone could afford them

Wasting your time making so many different chips means that there is now a shortage of everything

Stop making garbage and concentrate on making those few chips that actually "ADD" value for "EVERYONE"

There is really no need for several hundred types of CPU in the market

"Availability" and "Affordability" should be your marketing buddies

Make them happen!

 

[Theinsanegamer]

Focusing on Flagship CPU's and GPU's should have been the plan all along

By eliminating dozens of models and concentrating on getting 2 or 3 models "just right", the cost of flagship CPU's would drop to where everyone could afford them

Wasting your time making so many different chips means that there is now a shortage of everything

Stop making garbage and concentrate on making those few chips that actually "ADD" value for "EVERYONE"

There is really no need for several hundred types of CPU in the market

"Availability" and "Affordability" should be your marketing buddies

Make them happen!

This is beyond ignorant.

AMD only had 3 GPU models for months, ALL of which were made from a single die model. Not ONE was reliably in stock anywhere, and they still are not.

AMD had 4 CPUs, all of which use the same chiplets. NONE of them were reliably in stock for MONTHS, now you can only reliably get the single chiplet CPUs, and usually for over MSRP.

So, to recap: AMD has ONE(1) CPU chiplet design and ONE(1) GPU die design, for months, and couldnt supply anywhere near enough. What do you propose they do, exactly?

 

[psycros]

This is beyond ignorant.

AMD only had 3 GPU models for months, ALL of which were made from a single die model. Not ONE was reliably in stock anywhere, and they still are not.

AMD had 4 CPUs, all of which use the same chiplets. NONE of them were reliably in stock for MONTHS, now you can only reliably get the single chiplet CPUs, and usually for over MSRP.

So, to recap: AMD has ONE(1) CPU chiplet design and ONE(1) GPU die design, for months, and couldnt supply anywhere near enough. What do you propose they do, exactly?

Nice apples to oranges. You know good and well he's talking about specific models in retail stock, of which there are over a dozen current-gen CPUS and APUs and five GPUs. Or at least you *should* know, if you're not "beyond ignorant".

 

[hahahanoobs]

Lol AMD.

 

[Bullwinkle M]

This is beyond ignorant.

AMD only had 3 GPU models for months, ALL of which were made from a single die model. Not ONE was reliably in stock anywhere, and they still are not.

AMD had 4 CPUs, all of which use the same chiplets. NONE of them were reliably in stock for MONTHS, now you can only reliably get the single chiplet CPUs, and usually for over MSRP.

So, to recap: AMD has ONE(1) CPU chiplet design and ONE(1) GPU die design, for months, and couldnt supply anywhere near enough. What do you propose they do, exactly?

Well, I propose we change the Laws and make manufacturing E-Waste a crime

Stop manufacturing garbage and if you "choose" to lock people into products that cannot be repaired, and "must" be replaced, then you (the manufacturer) should be required by Law to replace the item for at least 10 years (FOR FREE)

The lifecycle MUST be increased from 1-2 years, to at least 10

If you stop making crap that does nothing more than spy on your "customers" or breaks in a year, and start making a few quality products, we all win and there will be enough chips for everyone @ bargain prices

Prove me wrong

 

[Irata]

This is beyond ignorant.

AMD only had 3 GPU models for months, ALL of which were made from a single die model. Not ONE was reliably in stock anywhere, and they still are not.

AMD had 4 CPUs, all of which use the same chiplets. NONE of them were reliably in stock for MONTHS, now you can only reliably get the single chiplet CPUs, and usually for over MSRP.

So, to recap: AMD has ONE(1) CPU chiplet design and ONE(1) GPU die design, for months, and couldnt supply anywhere near enough. What do you propose they do, exactly?

Odd how this differs by market. Checking my favorite retailer here in Germany, I can get all four Ryzen 5000 SKU at (5900X and 5950X) or even below msrp (5600X and 5800X, the latter actually being €60 below). Admittedly, this has only been the case for the last month - before availability, particularly of higher end SKU was spotty and prices were usually above msrp.

In the US it seems to be getting better - Bestbuy has the 5600x and 5800x available online at msrp (for the longest time there was no stock), but the two top SKU are still sold out.

So it‘s getting better but I don‘t think we‘ll see any lower tier SKU anytime soon.

 

[punctualturn]

Odd how this differs by market. Checking my favorite retailer here in Germany, I can get all four Ryzen 5000 SKU at (5900X and 5950X) or even below msrp (5600X and 5800X, the latter actually being €60 below). Admittedly, this has only been the case for the last month - before availability, particularly of higher end SKU was spotty and prices were usually above msrp.

In the US it seems to be getting better - Bestbuy has the 5600x and 5800x available online at msrp (for the longest time there was no stock), but the two top SKU are still sold out.

So it‘s getting better but I don‘t think we‘ll see any lower tier SKU anytime soon.

Adding to this, AMD.com itself hasnt ran out of 5600x either for the last 2 weeks.

 

[Bullwinkle M]

Adding to this, AMD.com itself hasnt ran out of 5600x either for the last 2 weeks.

But all the Cool Kids want NVidia Cards!

 

[DZillaXx]

Well, I propose we change the Laws and make manufacturing E-Waste a crime

Stop manufacturing garbage and if you "choose" to lock people into products that cannot be repaired, and "must" be replaced, then you (the manufacturer) should be required by Law to replace the item for at least 10 years (FOR FREE)

The lifecycle MUST be increased from 1-2 years, to at least 10

If you stop making crap that does nothing more than spy on your "customers" or breaks in a year, and start making a few quality products, we all win and there will be enough chips for everyone @ bargain prices

Prove me wrong

Nearly all x86 chips currently being made can easily last a user 10 years if they want.

Same reason why people are still rocking Sandy Bridge i5/i7's in 2021, they still do a good job. 10 years from now a 6 core Ryzen 5000 series chip isn't going to have a problem doing work, even if it is mainly web browser use.

E-Waste is by far more of an issue when it comes to mobile devices like cell phone and the users that are unable to stick to using a phone longer than a year. While it wasn't always the case, SoCs in flagship phones easily can be relevant for 5-6 years. Going back 5-6 years now. Its the Budget level devices that are E-Waste from day one.

Honestly more should be done to get refurbed high end flagship phones from the past into peoples hands at budget prices than brand new budget phones.

 

[Irata]

But all the Cool Kids want NVidia Cards!

nVidia have done an impressive job building a brand and creating mind share. Just look at their last quarterly numbers. Gross margins are impressive.

 

[yRaz]

Nice apples to oranges. You know good and well he's talking about specific models in retail stock, of which there are over a dozen current-gen CPUS and APUs and five GPUs. Or at least you *should* know, if you're not "beyond ignorant".

ADDS Chiplet design is designed specifically increase yields. Have an 8 core die with 6 working cores? Instead of throwing out the die, mix it with another die with 6 working cores and make a 12 core.

Or atleast that's what I think he's getting at