When Intel launched its latest generation of chipsets for the Socket 775 platform the big manufacturers quickly stocked up on chips to be able to meet the high demand. In retrospect they might have been a bit too optimistic, which now may end up just lying around collecting dust as Intel rolls out the next generation chipsets. According to information posted by DigiTimes, ASUS and Gigabyte have stocks of millions of chips left with just a few months left to sell them.
In the second quarter Intel will unveil the Havendale and Lynnfield processors that will be paired with the new 5 series of chipsets. A fact that will cause the demand for 4 series chipsets to plummet and seriously reduce the value of the stock.
ASUS and Gigabyte haven’t commented on the story but both acknowledge that they together have chipsets worth up to $330 million, where ASUS has the biggest portion of chips with a value of around $180 million.
If Intel would postpone the launch of the 5 series we can see at least two manufacturers that will emit a small sigh of relief.
