Posted on Tuesday, August 16 2011 @ 23:01 CEST by Thomas De Maesschalck
DigiTimes
reports Intel is willing to provide 20 percent discount to first-tier notebook players on processors for ultrabooks, even though the companies had asked for 50 percent discounts to help increase their profitability:
The sources pointed out that Intel's insistence over the high CPU price to maintain its leading position in the supply chain may strongly reduce the effort of the company's counter against its competitors and affect traditional notebook development in the future.
Intel's Oak Trail platform, paired Atom Z670 CPU (US$75) with SM35 chipsets (US$20) for tablet PC machine, is priced at US$95, already accounting for about 40% of the total cost of a tablet PC, even with a 70-80% discount, the platform is still far less attractive than Nvidia's Tegra 2 at around US$20. Although players such as Asustek Computer and Acer have launched models with the platform for the enterprise market, their machines' high price still significantly limit their sales, the sources noted.
As for Ultrabook CPUs, Intel is only willing to provide marketing subsides and 20% discount to the first-tier players, reducing the Core i7-2677 to US$317, Core i7-2637 to US$289 and Core i5-2557 to US$250.
