(Image credit: Intel)

Demand for high-performance server CPUs is quite high these days, both because of the AI boom and because traditional cloud service providers continue to expand their fleets. However, something unusual is happening on the retail market of data center processors in the U.S., as the latest EPYC 9005-series CPUs from AMD and Xeon 6 Performance-series CPUs from Intel are available with discounts of around 50%. We have inquired with both AMD and Intel about why their latest CPUs are available below list prices at retailers in the U.S. and are awaiting their response.

Neither AMD nor Intel recently announced price cuts for their server offerings, but as we discovered today, virtually all high-end EPYC and Xeon CPUs — including the latest generation and previous generation SKUs — are now being sold well below their prices for direct customers at retail.

If server processors from AMD and Intel were available below their list prices at a small retailer with no reputation, we would suspect the listings were merely fraud. However, two respected retailers — ShopBLT and Newegg — offer the latest EPYC and Xeon CPUs at steep discounts from their pricing guidelines, which means that these products can indeed be obtained relatively cheaply, or rather below their list prices (1000-unit prices for AMD, recommended customer price in case of Intel). 

Flagship server CPUs from AMD and Intel are quite expensive: the 192-core EPYC 9965 costs $14,813, and the 128-core Xeon 6980P is priced at $12,460 (after Intel had already slashed its price from $17,800 in early January) when purchased in 1000-unit quantities by its direct customers. 

However, ShopBLT is selling both processors with 35% and 53% discounts for $9,713 and $5,836, respectively. 

ShopBLT is not alone, as Newegg offers Intel's Xeon 6980P for $6,190, a 50% reduction from Intel's recommended customer pricing (RCP). 

AMD's top-of-the-line 192-core EPYC 9965 processor is officially priced at $14,813 when sold in batches of 1,000 units. However, ShopBLT offers it for $9,713 (about 35% below the official 1kU pricing) with an ETA of 15 days. A slightly less powerful 160-core EPYC 9845 is sold for $13,564 in 1kU quantities by AMD, but ShopBLT sells it for $8,896, a 35% reduction from AMD's 1kU pricing. 

A more mainstream 72-core EPYC 9565 can be obtained for $5,728, down 45% from the official price for direct customers. AMD's previous-generation Zen 4-based EPYC 9004-series CPUs are also sold well below their recommended prices for direct clients.

Intel's Xeon 6 6900P-series CPUs are sold at even steeper discounts from their RCPs. The flagship 128-core Xeon 6980P is available for $5,166 (53% lower than RCP), the 96-core Xeon 6972P is priced at $4,789 (53% lower than RCP), whereas the Xeon 6960P can be purchased for $4,511 (53% off from the RCP). The previous-generation flagship — the 64-core Xeon 8592+ — is priced at 'affordable' $2,280, which is five times less than its list price.

AMD's 1kU prices and Intel's RCPs are prices for their direct customers buying in batches of 1,000 units. In general, these are benchmarks, not fixed retail prices. Real-world prices depend on many factors, including negotiated contracts, order sizes, and distributor channel incentives, among other things, so it's quite common for large cloud service providers (CSPs) or OEMs to get their CPUs below list prices.

Retail is another matter, though. For now, we could see two possible reasons why brand-new server CPUs are available below their list prices. 

Intel and AMD are in fierce competition for data center market share, which may drive prices well below official RCPs. Intel had to slash Xeon 6 pricing to stay relevant against AMD's higher-core-count EPYC 9005 CPUs earlier this year, while AMD discounts to prevent hyperscalers and enterprises from defaulting to Intel, which still dominates server chip sales. This head-to-head pressure could force distributors and retailers to undercut list prices, making high-end CPUs far cheaper in the open market. 

Also, both AMD and Intel are producing CPUs aggressively to secure market share in data centers. If supply briefly overshot immediate OEM demand, distributors may be offloading excess stock into retail channels, and to move volume, they could be discounting well below list prices. 

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