On October 24 that Intel Chief Financial Officer (CFO) David Zinsner pointed out in an interview with Barron's today that as demand for server and personal computer processors far exceeded expectations, the company's chip inventory is rapidly depleting.

He said that demand for data center and client CPUs is rising rapidly, and the first quarter of 2026 will be the "most challenging" period to meet chip demand because its chip inventory will be exhausted by then.

Intel's Xeon server CPUs are reportedly seeing a significant increase in adoption, with the Xeon 6 "Granite Ridge" chip, specifically for artificial intelligence (AI) applications, being a key driver of growth. Intel is continuing to expand its chip production lines, including those using the Intel 7 process node. However, even with this expansion, Intel still expects chip supply to remain tight after 2026.

Zinsner also mentioned at the earnings conference: "In the current tight production capacity environment, the team performed well and met the excess demand in the quarter. We expect this situation to continue until 2026. The company is working closely with customers to maximize available production capacity, including through price adjustments and product portfolio optimization to match supply and demand to the most reasonable state."

Based on previous leaks, the "price adjustment" he mentioned here refers to the long-awaited Raptor Lake processors. Of course, the shortage isn't simply due to excessive demand, but rather the company prioritizing server chip production. To balance varying market demands, Intel is raising Raptor Lake product prices to ensure stable supply for both the server and consumer markets