AMD Claims Intel's Inferior Products Have Led to Unexpected Demand for the 9800X3D, Resulting in Shortages
Brook.X
Intel's recent launch of the Intel Core Ultra 200 series processors has sparked considerable controversy, primarily because real-world tests have revealed that these processors fall short of Intel's advertised performance.
For instance, processors based on the Arrow Lake architecture have shown subpar performance in reviews. Intel's explanation is that optimizations, including power management drivers, are still being rolled out.
However, these issues have become irrelevant as reviews have left gamers disappointed with Intel's processors, leading them to switch to AMD's previously released RYZEN 9 9800X3D processor, thereby causing a supply shortage for this model.
The 9800X3D is AMD's flagship gaming processor, offering superior performance that can enhance the gaming experience for players.
During a small roundtable at CES 2025, an AMD executive revealed, "We knew we had created a fantastic product, but we didn't realize our competitor had created a poor one, which led to higher demand for the 9800X3D than we had anticipated."
The surge in demand has intensified AMD's efforts in manufacturing the X3D processors. Given the long lead times in delivering modern high-end processors, accurately predicting demand is crucial. This instance was a misjudgment by AMD, specifically an underestimation of Intel's product shortcomings, leading to a supply-demand mismatch for the X3D products.
Another executive, David McFee, mentioned that AMD has been increasing its production capacity, but the unexpected surge in demand for the 9800X3D and 7800X3D has been unprecedented.
Producing advanced processor products requires significant time to build CCD wafers, cache wafers, and then stack them. Thus, increasing production capacity is a time-consuming process that cannot be resolved quickly.
McFee also revealed that the newly launched 99x0X3D products (such as the 9950X3D) would not help alleviate demand, as most users prefer the 8-core X3D products over those with more cores, with the demand ratio approximately 10:1.
Therefore, customers looking to purchase the X3D series AMD CPUs may need to be patient. Given the supply constraints, the prices for these processors might also be higher.
