Intel to Stop Atom Z Sales to Netbook Market
Asus Eee PC T91 based on Atom Z520
Intel has reportedly informed customers that it will accept no more orders for its Atom Z processors from netbook manufacturers soon, as it’s getting close to completely digesting its inventory.
Intel is expected to completely stop the supply of Atom Z processors to the netbook market before the end of 2009, hoping to clearly define the boundary between solutions targeting netbooks and those for MIDs. Those already placed orders from Acer, Asus and MSI will be fulfilled though.
However, the story is not officially confirmed yet.
August 2nd, 2009 at 3:13 pm
To me this seems like a foolish move for Intel. I haven’t heard of any Atom based MIDs selling very well and the lower performance of the Z series atoms should mean that they don’t cut away Intels sales of higher end cpus. Maybe they have some big MID announcement coming up, could this be related to their partnership with Nokia?
August 3rd, 2009 at 1:47 pm
Intel’s middle name is ‘hubris’. They seem fixated with the belief that if they keep saying where Atom can and can’t be deployed, people who want USD 300 netbooks will turn around and get USD 750 Core 2 laptops instead.