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As expected, Intel Corp. over the weekend slashed prices on its processors up to 52 percent in a bid to spur demand and reduce inventories of unsold chips that climbed as sales fell short of projections this summer.
The discounting came one week after the chip maker released its fastest chip yet, a 2.8GHz Pentium 4 desktop processor priced at $637, and slashed the price of its previous speed king, the 2.53GHz Pentium 4, by a whopping 62 percent to $243. Intel also released 2.66GHz Pentium 4 last week priced at $401, with prices based on 1,000-unit shipments.
On Sunday, Intel cut the price on the 2.4GHz Pentium 4 for desktop PCs by 52 percent, from $400 to $193. Prices for other Pentium 4 desktop chips were lowered as well, with the 2.26GHz and 2.2GHz processors both reduced 20 percent from $241 to $193 each. The 2GHz was trimmed 16 percent, from $193 to $163, and the 1.8GHz was discounted 12 percent, from $163 to $143.
The chipmaker also lowered prices for its Celeron processors designed for low-cost desktop PCs. The 1.8GHz version, the fastest Celeron, was reduced 19 percent, from $103 to $83. The 1.7GHz fell 17 percent, from $83 to $69, the 1.4GHz was also trimmed 17 percent, from $89 to $74, and the 1.3GHz was cut 14 percent, from $74 to $64.
Prices for server chips were also reduced, with the 2.2GHz Intel Xeon dropping a modest 15 percent, from $262 to $224, the 2GHz slipping 16 percent, from $224 to $188, and the 1.8GHz falling 19 percent, from $192 to $156. Intel also lowered prices on its low-cost server chips, the Pentium III-S processors, as the 1.4GHz was cut 33 percent, from $294 to $193, and the 1.26GHz version was reduced 17 percent, from $202 to $167.
Intel also trimmed prices on its top-performing notebook chips, the Pentium 4-M processors, starting with the companys fastest mobile chip, the 2GHz Pentium 4-M, which was reduced 45 percent, from $637 to $348. Other mobile chip cuts saw the 1.9GHz fall 40 percent, from $401 to $241, 1.8GHz tumbled 43 percent, from $348 to $193, and the 1.7GHz was discounted 29 percent, from $241 to $171.
Three mobile Celeron chips designed for lower priced notebooks were also reduced, with a 1.5GHz cut 44 percent, from $170 to $96, the 1.4GHz trimmed 36 percent, from $149 to $96, and the 1.2GHz discounted 17 percent, from $96 to $80.
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