Rising prices and wait times add to headache from ongoing memory chip shortage.
Worsening supply constraints in central processing units made by Intel and AMD are adding fresh pain for PC and server makers already hammered by an unprecedented memory chip shortage, Nikkei Asia has learned.
Intel and AMD up in overnight trading.
Top PC makers such as HP and Dell found that a meaningful 'gap' began appearing at the end of February between the volume of CPUs they needed and the volume they could obtain, managers with direct knowledge of the matter told Nikkei Asia, adding that the situation is now much worse than a few months ago.
The supply crunch is already increasing wait times and pushing up prices for CPUs for both servers and PCs, several industry executives and managers said, with some forecasting the situation to worsen in the coming months. Quote prices for CPUs have already increased a number of times this year, leading to an average price hike of between 10% to 15% and some are even higher than this rate, according to multiple sources with direct knowledge of the matter.
Intel and AMD have recently told clients they will increase prices for all series of CPUs from March and April, respectively, they said.
"Previously, the average lead time for a CPU was around one to two weeks, but now the wait time has prolonged to an average of eight to 12 weeks," an executive with a server maker that sells Nvidia, AMD and Intel solutions told Nikkei Asia.
An executive with a server and PC distributor said that in some cases, the wait time for CPUs is now as long as six months.
An executive with a gaming PC company said that the shortage of CPUs is expected to become worse in the April-June quarter. "Intel and AMD have prioritized capacity for server CPUs, and the supply for PCs has become less ... What PC players can get in Q2 is much less than the volume we got in Q1."
"If money can solve the problem that would be great," the gaming PC executive added. "What we worry about is that even if we pay more we still cannot get more. The CPU shortage is getting more serious day by day, no less than the memory chip situation."
Asked for comment, Intel said it has "informed customers of planned pricing updates on select products, reflecting sustained demand, increased component and material costs, and evolving market dynamics." AMD was not immediately available for comment.
Heated global demand for AI computing power has led to shortages in memory chips, as well as constraints in other, less well-known supplies, such as glass cloth that have begun to worry even Apple. PC and smartphone brands alike have flagged price increases this year as their costs continue to mount.
The latest supply crunch is even influencing one of the longstanding battles in the CPU market.
An executive at a supplier serving HP, Dell and Asus said its clients have been allocating more resources in 2026 to designing computers using CPUs based on the designs of U.K.-based chip intellectual property provider Arm. "I do see some switches, because in particular Intel CPUs are quite short," the executive said.
Jose Liao, general manager of systems business at Asus, the world's No. 5 PC maker, said mid-range X-86 CPUs face a bigger supply gap, as Intel and AMD are focusing more on high-end chips. "The supply gap is indeed widening and is expected to continue," he said.
At the same time, Arm products are gaining ground, he said. "In Asus's case, currently roughly 30% of Copilot AI PCs run on Arm-based CPUs, a big increase from some 20% at the end of last year, and the figure is estimate to keep growing throughout this year," Liao told reporters at product launch event in Taipei on Monday.
Intel and AMD both design CPUs based on the X-86 architecture, which accounted for more than 85% of processors used in PCs and around 78% of those used in servers as of 2025.
On the other hand, Nvidia's latest Vera server CPUs are built on the Arm architecture, which is known for its power efficiency. Other companies, including Apple, MediaTek, and Qualcomm, also design processors based on Arm architecture -- primarily for smartphones, but increasingly expanding into laptops and even servers.
In a move that could add further pressure to the X-86 camp, Arm this week unveiled its own server CPU product to capitalize on the AI boom, marking a departure from its long-standing role as a neutral, third-party provider of software infrastructure. This means the company would also compete with existing Arm-based chip developers.
Just like the memory chip shortage, exponential demand for AI is driving the CPU crunch, as materials and production capacity are increasingly being reserved for AI chip giants such as Nvidia, Broadcom, Google and Amazon.
Surging demand for AI computing is also driving increased demand for general-purpose and storage servers, both of which rely heavily on CPUs to handle computing tasks.
"This year, growth in general-purpose servers could reach nearly 15%, but Intel's capacity is only expanding at a single-digit rate, creating a significant supply-demand imbalance," a server maker manager familiar with the situation said.
Brady Wang, an analyst with Counterpoint Research, said the demand for general-purpose and storage servers has far exceeded original forecasts.
"It's not every server out there that needs powerful graphic processors or AI accelerators. As more AI data center servers are deployed, they need to be supported by additional general-purpose and storage infrastructure, and all of those require computer CPUs," Wang said. "We began seeing supply constraints late last year, and they have since intensified. The challenge is that no one anticipated such strong growth in less advanced, non-AI data center segments, making it difficult to manage this surge in a short period of time."
Both Intel and AMD are struggling to expand fast enough to meet demand. In Intel's case, it is working hard to boost the output of its own in-house chip production and will need time to generate more output, sources told Nikkei Asia. Intel also faced some supply constraints for chip substrates, they said. AMD, which outsources all of its manufacturing to contract chipmakers such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. and Samsung, has to battle other AI chip giants like Nvidia and Google for more capacity.
Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan told investors in late January that supply constraints were limiting the company's ability to capture all of the strengths of its key markets. AMD CEO Lisa Su told an investors' conference that her company has spotted strong growth in server CPUs and was working hard to increase its supply capacity.
HP and Dell did not respond to Nikkei Asia's request for comment.
