Demand for high-performance server CPUs is quite high these days, both because of the AI boom and because traditional cloud service providers continue to expand their fleets. However, something unusual is happening on the retail market of data center processors in the U.S., as the latest EPYC 9005-series CPUs from AMD and Xeon 6 Performance-series CPUs from Intel are available with discounts of around 50%. We have inquired with both AMD and Intel about why their latest CPUs are available below list prices at retailers in the U.S. and are awaiting their response.
Neither AMD nor Intel recently announced price cuts for their server offerings, but as we discovered today, virtually all high-end EPYC and Xeon CPUs — including the latest generation and previous generation SKUs — are now being sold well below their prices for direct customers at retail.
