Intel readies huge Pentium 4 price cuts

AS WE'VE NOTED, Intel is readying a widespread cut in prices. It told its OEM partners about those details in a July roadmap we saw at the time, and now it has notified its resellers too. Journalists will be the last to know. It was ever thus.

Intel seems to have brought some price drops forward from the 1st of September to the 25th/26th of August, when we now expect it to introduce its 2.80GHz Pentium 4, but it appears that it's sticking with the 1st of September date for the pricing of some of the processors affected.

The 2.80GHz Pentium 4 desktop processor is matched by the introduction of 2.4GHz and 2.6GHz Xeons. The 2.8GHz Xeon is likely to be introduced when the 3.06GHz Pentium 4 is launched.

The most dramatic drop on Pentium 4s will be the 2.53GHz Pentium 4, a price decline of 62%, and that price will be effective August 25th, in readiness for the 26th of August launch of the 2.80GHz and other chips such as the 2.6GHz and 2.66GHz processors.

The price cuts are on desktop processors, notebook chips and some server chips too.

Desktop CPUs which will drop in price are the 2.53GHz parts downward, with the 1.7GHz Pentium 4 disappearing from Intel lists.

This is what Intel has told its Asian partners what the price drops will be -- the dollar figures are channel rebates the dealers can expect:

Intel® Pentium® 4 Processor Desktop Boxed Processor ICR 1000-unit price decline
2.8 GHz 533 FSB $18 @ Product Launch
2.66 GHz 533 FSB $14 @ Product Launch
2.6 GHz 400 FSB $14 @ Product Launch
2.53 GHz 533 FSB $5 (effective Aug 25) 62%
2.5 GHz 400 FSB $5 (effective Aug 25) @ Product Launch
2.4 GHz 533/400 FSB $4 52%
2.26 GHz 533 FSB $4 20%
2.20 GHz 533 FSB $4 20%
2.0 GHz 400 FSB $3 16%
1.9 GHz 400 FSB $3 6%
1.8/1.8A GHz 400 FSB $3 12%

Intel® Celeron® 4 Processor Desktop Boxed Processor ICR 1000-unit price decline
2.0 GHz (478-pin) $2 @ Product Launch
1.8 GHz (478-pin) $2 19%
1.7 GHz (478-pin) $1 17%
1.4 GHz (FC-PGA2) $1 17%
1.3 GHz (FC-PGA2) $1 14%
1.2 GHz (FC-PGA2) $1 7%

Intel® Xeon(tm) Processor Boxed Processor ICR 1000-unit price decline
2.2 GHz (512K) $5 15%
2.0A GHz (512K) $4 16%
1.8 GHz (512K) $4 19%

Intel® Pentium® III Processor-S Boxed Processor ICR 1000-unit price decline
1.4 GHz (512K) $4 33%
1.26 GHz (512K) $3 17%
Mobile Intel® Pentium® 4 Processor-M Boxed Processor ICR 1000-unit price decline
2.2 GHz $19 @ Product Launch
2.0 GHz $12 45%
1.9 GHz $5 40%
1.8 GHz $4 43%
1.7 GHz $3 29%

Mobile Intel® Celeron® Processor Boxed Processor ICR 1000-unit price decline
1.2 GHz $2 17%

The Intel product dealer newsletter points to these different price cuts and new introductions.

Those details are essentially the same as we published in late July here, for desktops, here, for servers, and here, for notebooks.

There's some desktop pricing information, in detail, in this story. And there are more pricing details on this page.

Intel tells its resellers that "there may be price moves on products that are not included in this list in order to respond to changing market dynamics".

This is Intel code for kneecapping its competitors, if at all possible. µ