Thursday, February 2nd 2023

AMD Restrained CPU and GPU Sales in 2H-2022 to Avoid Unsold Inventory

AMD in its Q4-2022 earnings release call disclosed to investors that it "undershipped" chips in the second half of 2022 to keep prices (margins) high and save itself from unsold inventory, in the wake of a steep slump in the PC market. "We undershipped in Q3, we undershipped in Q4," AMD CEO Dr Lisa Su told investors. "We will undership, to a lesser extent, in Q1 [sic]," she added.

Major chipmakers are experiencing an unprecedented slump in demand compared to the spike in demand during the COVID 19 pandemic lockdowns. With high energy prices and the ebb in the pandemic causing much of the white-collar workforce to return to office, there's no longer the kind of demand the PC industry saw in 2021. On the other hand, undersupplies artificially hold prices high, with graphics cards and desktop processors still being unreasonably pricey compared to previous generations. AMD calculated that it would rather make less revenues on fewer chips shipped, than end up with a bloated unsold inventory that it would have to sell at a thin margins, or even at a loss. The company on Tuesday beat expectations to report good Q4-2022 results, which received a thumbs-up from investors.
Source: TechSpot
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200 Comments on AMD Restrained CPU and GPU Sales in 2H-2022 to Avoid Unsold Inventory

#76
Dirt Chip
One can argue that this practice is better than to lay off any thousands of employees like many other giant companies do this days.
Granted, it can allways come together with massive lay off...
Posted on Reply
#77
claes
T1beriuShortages generate demand?! Wtf?! It's the other way around!
Shortages decrease demand? Supply generates demand? This thread is something else
T1beriuTPU made is as if AMD wanted to control their own increase in inventory, not the one in the supply chain. That's why I'm saying it doesn't make any sense.
What would happen to prices if they flooded the market with cards?
Posted on Reply
#78
Bwaze
Dirt ChipOne can argue that this practice is better than to lay off any thousands of employees like many other giant companies do this days.
But the client segment plummeted as hard as any tech revenue this quarter. The only thing saving them is data center / server revenue increase:

"Client segment revenue was $903 million, down 51% year-over-year due to reduced processor shipments resulting from a weak PC market and a significant inventory correction across the PC supply chain."

"Data Center segment revenue was $1.7 billion, up 42% year-over-year primarily driven by strong sales of EPYC server processors."

Is AMD now rather focussing on a data center / server segment, so much so that the chiplets are primarily designed for that use and can't really be optimally utilised in home PC?

Also, did AMD replace shipments of client CPUs on which they have lower margins with server CPUs with much larger margins? That would make more sense than fear of overstocking.
Posted on Reply
#79
Pumper
Chomiq70 Ti, 80 and 90 from 40 series are insanely priced, inventory is low for a reason and that's to keep the prices at the same level.

This has been available for over an hour now at NBB. If this was 3080 two years ago (at €700) it would fly off the shelf in seconds.
Well, the other reason is that you can get AIB 4080 on the same site for 1300€ or even cheaper (PNY is going for 1269€), unlike 3000 series, where FE was the cheapest option.
Posted on Reply
#80
billEST
try to manipulate price

tell strategie to intel

illegal
Posted on Reply
#81
prtskg
AMD undershipped client CPUs not GPUs as Intel has flooded the market with its own products and OEMs want Chromebook level margin for client CPUs which AMD doesn't agree with. Posted this since some people were complaining about GPU undersupply. This has been happening since last quarter. Intel is using its manufacturing capacity to price AMD out of market.
Posted on Reply
#82
wNotyarD
Dirt ChipRTE?
From context, I guess Ryzen, Threadripper and Epyc.
Posted on Reply
#83
Legacy-ZA
See? Companies can never do the opposite when things go bad. Always the customer that has to keep being screwed.
Posted on Reply
#84
Wirko
lemonadesodatax implications
This, too. If they anticipated a profit for 2022 and a possible loss for 2023, it would have been wise to delay some revenue to 2023, if possible.
BwazeIs AMD now rather focussing on a data center / server segment, so much so that the chiplets are primarily designed for that use and can't really be optimally utilised in home PC?
I'd put it another way. Their universal chiplet architecture is ingenious enough to afford them a lot of flexibility. I'd love to learn some details about yields and average quality of chips. Until then, I'm inclined to think that, after several months of manufacturing and improvements, most working chips can be binned as "very good" for either line of their CPUs.

Edit: Also, die manufacturing takes about 3 months. It's a great strategic advantage if you can decide where to put a die only after you have that die in your hand.
Posted on Reply
#85
Gungar
Space Lynxwww.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/techspot-amd-admits-to-restraining-chip-supply-to-keep-higher-cpu-and-gpu-prices.304331/#post-4942731

I locked my thread on it, or well requested it be locked. I already said what I wanted to say. I regret not paying a little extra for a 4070 ti now.

Take care AMD it was nice knowing you. :toast: My money is going elsewhere moving forward.

"to save itself from unsold inventory" lol I call bs on this. 6800 XT sold out instantly all last year, even in December. I know because I kept an eye on it on PC Reddit sales. lol nice one. you crack me up AMD.
Nvidia does exactly the same thing... That's why companies should never tell the truth, because of your kind of people.
Posted on Reply
#86
watzupken
While people get upset knowing that a company restricted supply to try to keep prices up, the fact is that these are profit seeking companies. AMD is no different from Intel nor Nvidia. So then why are people upset? This is not something new isn’t it? Assuming Lisa Su is a great person that decides that they don’t need to make so much money, and so sell their products for a song. I am pretty sure she will be removed by the board and key investors at some point.

In any case, be it Nvidia, Intel or AMD, they can only restrict supply to some point. When supply far outstrips demand, unless they can stop the fab from producing, they will have an inventory problem at some point. This is a delay tactic that cannot last. You can choose not to produce any cards, but the chips are still getting manufactured because they are paid for in advance. So it is really kicking the can down the road kind of solution.
Posted on Reply
#87
hsew
Funny how the people complaining about this are the same people who complained about AMD being perceived as a “budget brand”.
Posted on Reply
#89
Assimilator
FluffmeisterSo to clarify, are AMD greedy?
Every company is greedy. That's how capitalism works. Some people are just too stupid to understand this.
Posted on Reply
#90
N3M3515
This is all new to me, there are always "expensive" times and "cheap" times. Seems amd, nvidia, intel now want to always have "expensive" times. Permanent expensive products. They have already erased entry level products.
So, when cheap times arrive they just "undership" to maintain prices high.
I guess supply and demand is being manipulated?
Posted on Reply
#91
medi01
oxrufiioxoGood times!
Terrible reporting.

She meant undershipping of the chips that are in demand, that they haven't been able to produce enough of to meet demand. Most likely EPYC chips for the datacenter, Rembrandt for the mobile markets/mini pc's, SOCs for the consoles and probably the SOC for the Steam Deck.

They're not holding back inventory to drive prices up, although you're forgiven for thinking so since that is what the article (mistakenly) implies.
Posted on Reply
#92
Squared
AMD's future depends on how they manage their money today. And with inflation everything is 15% more expensive since even 2020, so prices will be up permanently.

That said, I think there's still room for complaints. The midrange and low-end cards are limited to x8 or even x4 PCIe lanes which is horrible for upgrading PCIe 3.0 platforms, every GPU under $200 feels like a scam, and low-profile cards barely exist and are all horrible.

Intel Arc is probably helping a little bit in the midrange, but because of its resizeable bar requirement it still doesn't work well on a lot of older PCIe 3.0 systems.
Posted on Reply
#93
john_
Well Nvidia admitted doing it much sooner. Don't remember any news articles. I wonder why...
I am not talking about TPU, but in general the press was quiet in Nvidia's case. That period the press and Youtubers where more focused on promoting Nvidia cards by informing us that the RTX 3090 Ti had seen a price drop and we should buy it.

And on the contrary to Nvidia, AMD DID DROPPED PRICES those last quarters. So, even with limited inventory, AMD DID tried to make it's cards more affordable.

But consumers decided to rush and buy the RTX 4090 and the RTX 3050, even OVER THEIR ORIGINAL MSRPs. In RTX 3050's case, EVEN WHEN THERE WHERE BETTER AND CHEAPER OPTIONS IN THE MARKET.

So, why supply consumers with cards, when they are not going to buy them, because they love Nvidia and they are willing to pay whatever price Nvidia asks?

Good move from AMD. Let consumers buy a new jacket for poor Jensen.
Posted on Reply
#94
JAB Creations
Dirt ChipYou do what you need to do to keep afloat.
AMD, like any other major player, will favor it's shareholders and bank balance before the consumer.
Anyone feeling 'betrayed'- that's only on you. It's a nice lesson to learn about global economy.
You can't have mutual friendship with those company's.
Whoa, a mature comment without having to scroll through a dozen+ clueless posts by people who have zero comprehension about business or economics? :toast:
Posted on Reply
#95
thesmokingman
All companies control their supply vs demand. And you'd think ppl would understand what happens when companies lose control of their supply chains right, we just went thru a COVID impacted supply chain for two years. Hello ppl??

Also there's no winning no matter what they do. Take Tesla for ex. In order to ramp to the moon they cut prices so spur demand. PPL whined about losing equity in their used cars, lol. There's no winning either way.
Posted on Reply
#96
Bomby569
thank God AMD saved us from NVidia
thesmokingmanAll companies control their supply vs demand.
Companies that have monopolies or duopolies maybe, normal companies DO NOT sit on inventory, what world do you live in?
Posted on Reply
#97
thesmokingman
Bomby569thank God AMD saved us from NVidia



Companies that have monopolies or duopolies maybe, normal companies DO NOT sit on inventory, what world do you live in?
They all do, you must be new at this. For ex. early last year they over ordered due to chip constraints compensating and preparing for the next worst case, then in late 2022 they cut orders due to forecasted lowered demand because we're in a global recession duh. All freaking companies will try to balance supply vs demand. Did you whine when the semis cut their wafer orders???
Posted on Reply
#98
ThrashZone
Hi,
Admitted to holding back shipments to keep prices as high as possible and some think this is a good thing
Once acceptance is complete we'll never see prices drop :cool:
Posted on Reply
#99
TheinsanegamerN
There is a HUGE difference between cutting production due to low demand, and INTENTIONALLY holding back supply to raise prices. People dont seem to understand this distinction.

AMD is pissing off a lot of people. Their GPUS were overpriced unobtanium for over a year, and now that prices are decreasing they are trying to rig the market in their favor. There's a good reason they are down to 8% marketshare. If they'd been cranking out GPUs during that time they'd have made a mint, many thought they couldnt due to CPU demand but now I'm wondering if it was intentional to justify higher pricing, which they couldnt implement because they just cant catch nvidia in performance.

It's a dangerous game to play. If intel ever gets back on their feet and becomes competitive again in the server space AMD wont have a strong consumer base to fall back on anymore. Of course thats beyond next quarter, so who cares?
Dirt ChipOne can argue that this practice is better than to lay off any thousands of employees like many other giant companies do this days.
Granted, it can allways come together with massive lay off...
Better idea: stop overhiring useless DEI departments in the first place, then you wont need to cut them (as they have received the brunt of layoffs in tech) the moment the market slows down. Then you make MORE money when in the good years too!

Because dont worry, a good chance to cut the fat will be used, regardless of profits. Corporations dont care about their employees.
Posted on Reply
#100
Bomby569
thesmokingmanThey all do, you must be new at this. For ex. early last year they over ordered due to chip constraints compensating and preparing for the next worst case, then in late 2022 they cut orders due to forecasted lowered demand because we're in a global recession duh. All freaking companies will try to balance supply vs demand. Did you whine when the semis cut their wafer orders???
i know 2 things: i was very clear with what i wrote and you didn't read or didn't understood a thing.
Posted on Reply
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