The explosion in demand for artificial intelligence is driving up chip manufacturing costs, and those costs are landing squarely on processors. A fresh wave of price increases is now sweeping the industry: Intel and Qualcomm have already pulled the trigger, and AMD appears to be next in line.

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Intel moved its hike forward

Intel was expected to raise its prices by up to 10% in October. However, a supply chain report published by Commercial Times claims the company acted earlier and implemented the decision in September. According to the report, price updates were applied across multiple processor lines, with the biggest impact seen on the high-end Panther Lake models.

Panther Lake processors with a high-level integrated graphics unit are said to have seen increases of between 15% and 20%. Hikes of 10% to 20% are also being reported for the Alder Lake and Twin Lake families, while the increase on entry-level, low-power models reportedly stayed in the 5% to 10% range.

Qualcomm follows suit

Intel isn't the only company raising prices. Qualcomm has increased prices by roughly 10% on its PC platforms, the Snapdragon X and X2 Elite series. This increase is said to have officially taken effect as of October 1.

AMD's hike will hit those waiting

AMD, the heavyweight on the desktop and server side, is also reportedly preparing price increases across some of its Ryzen and EPYC families. A price rise of around 10% is anticipated for the company's processors. It isn't yet clear when the new pricing will take effect, but given Intel's and Qualcomm's moves, a long delay isn't expected.

Behind all three companies' price hikes stands TSMC, which manufactures their chips. The Taiwanese manufacturer is said to be raising its production prices again in 2027, signaling that price increases will continue in the period ahead. These CPU hikes are likely to be reflected in PC prices as well, so anyone planning a purchase may want to watch developments closely.