It's no secret that Intel's ship has recently been taking on some water. The company has seen its revenues plummet over the past year and has responded by restructuring its business to cut costs and right the ship. On the other side of the equation, it's also looking at ways to increase revenues. One of those ways is as old as time itself, which is just to raise prices. However, that's apparently not in the cards at all. Intel is denying a recent report that it was planning on increasing its CPU prices, saying it has no plans to adjust the pricing of its portfolio "at this time."
This whole kerfuffle started a few days with a report emanating from Germany. According to Wccftech, two German CPU retailers confirmed to media they had been sent a letter by Intel advising of upcoming price hikes. The alleged price increase would apply to all present and future Intel CPUs. That would include Alder Lake, Raptor Lake, and the yet-to-launch Raptor Lake refresh and Meteor Lake. It was also a sizable price bump for some models, with the letter reportedly stating it would range from a single digit to up to 20% for some SKUs.
Now Intel has sent a statement to the same site denying the letter exists. In a statement to Wccftech, it wrote, "Generally, Intel does not comment on speculation regarding price changes to its portfolio. However, we can confirm that Intel has not sent the letter described to customers or partners and has not initiated a price change to its CPU portfolio at this time. We have no further comment to share on the matter."
As the statement makes clear, it is rare for Intel to comment on these types of reports, making us think Intel is telling the truth. That's only because, if the letter existed, it could easily disprove Intel's claims if one of these retailers showed it to the media. We suppose that could still happen, but given Intel's insistence on it being fake news, it seems like prices might remain as-is for now.
Of course, Intel's use of the phrase "at this time" could mean it plans to increase prices, or that its plans could change in the coming months. After all, these statements to the media are vetted up and down the chain of command before being sent out, so the words in them are usually chosen with precision. However, since both its Raptor Lake refresh and Meteor Lake are still months away from launch, it's feasible its pricing plans could change between now and then. We'll have to wait and see, as both platforms are expected to arrive in September and October.
