Intel To Postpone X48?

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DigiTimes, citing anonymous sources, claims that Intel is delaying the launch of its X48 chipset at the request of a single tier-one motherboard maker.

Intel was originally going to launch the X48 chipset in January next year, however the company may postpone the chipset launch by 1-2 months because one of the first-tier motherboard makers still holds a large volume of X38 chipset inventory, according to sources at motherboard makers.
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I am sure not having AMD nipping at their heels didn't help matters.

It seems right now that the whole industry is slowing down because of the AMD/ATI lack of really high performance parts.
 
It sounds fine to me. A company is still trying to sell out its old stock, so they're not shipping in the new stock that would cause them to lose money on the old stock. It's financially, probably a good way to go. That said, in this case, it's one of the company's customers (or should we say resellers), which in the end, means the same thing, since they have to make money on the existing stock, while maintaining a good relationship with the company itself.

I can understand that you're not happy that technology is being delayed, but in such an economic system, I can't find any fault with the decision.
 
Considering the X38 came out a bit late as I remember, I don't find this surprising at all. Then again, considering the price increase from P35 to X38, I'm wondering if demand for the X38 was all that high once it was released.

I wouldn't doubt that the X48 is going to be delayed. The actual reason for the delay may be up in the air. Sure, it's a good idea to keep the Tier 1 motherboard makers happy, but if it's only one that's asking for this, you're not going to postpone a launch just because they asked. Now, if it was all the motherboard makers it might be a different story.

This sounds like a cover for a delay due to overstock of the chipset on Intel's side due to the short time between the launch of the X38 and X48, a problem with the X48 chipset itself or the motherboard makers are having a hell of a time implementing the chipset properly.

Of course, take everything I say with a grain of salt considering there has not been an official announcement of the delay of the chipset.

 
I just found it odd that ONE motherboard maker having excess stock lead to Intel delaying a chipset. Huh?!?!

As far as "delayed" goes, there has been no official announcement or release date set by Intel other than the standard roadmap "projections" so I am not sure how something without an official release date can be delayed in the first place.
 
I also find it odd that only one manufacturer would have excess stock. Normally, it's a problem with everyone and not just one.

Besides, if it was an excess inventory problem with only one manufacturer, there are other things Intel could do to placate the manufacturer to avoid a delay. One of the simplest things would be to offer a temporary discount on the X48 chipsets to that one manufacturer to help recoup losses from unsold X38's.

This account by Digitimes just smells funny all around.

 
Probably one has excess stock and the others are so shell shocked at all the releases in the last year they don't care. I wish I knew how many boards had to be sold to break even on the setup costs to support and build another product. I have absolutely nothing to back this up with but I suspect they have yet to break even on X38.

What would this do to Nehalem launch schedules ? hmm I buy top of the line, money out the yazoo X48 board in say March, and of course top of the line CPU etc. and in Dec the same year it gets made obsolete ? Tick farking Tock am I annoyed ! Well not quite sure when Nehalem desktop launch is scheduled but who outside Intel (if they even know inside) knows for sure anyway.

LOL if its ASUS or DELL I bet they got some pull, sales and marketing run modern companies anyway (and probably should as much as it horrifies me as an engineer to say it. )
 
drop the price a bit on some of the x38 models, and im sure some [H] folks will help alleviate the situation :)
 
So, it's probably ASUS that has a pile of X38 boards. Which makes sense. There's no good reason to get one. Lets get the DDR3 1600 prices down to the land of the resonable and maybe people will buy them.
 
Advil said:
So, it's probably ASUS that has a pile of X38 boards. Which makes sense. There's no good reason to get one. Lets get the DDR3 1600 prices down to the land of the resonable and maybe people will buy them.
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My bet is on Asus too. Asus is the biggest Intel board partner and Intel would lose a lot of business if Asus was unhappy.
 
Steve said:
Does that even sound right to anyone else? :confused:
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There are a lot of research costs that go into designing boards around a new chipset. The mobo makers have to buy volume great enough that they still make profit after those costs. If Intel pumps out chipsets too fast the mobo makers have no time to recoup their research costs and end up with excess inventory that rapidly depreciates as soon as a new chipset is released.

If one major maker is still sitting on significant stock, multiple makers are probably still sitting similar amounts, which would make for a lot of unhappy business partners if x48 was released now.
 
Can't be ASUS. The article said first-tier.

Tier 1 = bottom of the barrel, like PCChips or DFI
 
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