We'd expect this to start from next year and it's likely to affect most Celeron CPUs. This might seem like a clever business model for Intel, as they don't need to ship the CPUs to as many different locations around the world, but there are bigger issues. For one it means that the motherboard manufacturers are liable directly to their customers if a CPU isn't working on a motherboard and there's a likelihood of more RMA's.
However, this isn't the biggest issue, as the real problem is the increase in stock costs, as the motherboard manufacturers will have to pay Intel for the CPUs and then try to make the money back in the channel. This is going to be a killer for the smaller motherboard makers which are likely to be very selective with regards to which low-end products they'll produce in the future.
Intel considering to use solder-on processors for low-end market
Posted on Saturday, June 06 2009 @ 13:18 CEST by Thomas De Maesschalck