Intel Fuels The Fire With Celeron Cuts

Intel is slated to cut prices on its line of low-cost Celeron chips on Monday, causing some analysts to wonder whether this aggressive low-end chip strategy might ultimately do more harm than good. In a move that will likely rattle the PC and chip markets, Intel will cut prices on its increasingly popular Celeron line of chips. But some analysts think if Intel continues to sell more of these low-priced chips, revenues could suffer. In short, as Intel boosts Celeron shipments, the overall average selling price of Intel chips dips. Prices will fall about $10 on the cheapest Celeron chips and more on higher end versions, according to industry sources familiar with the price cuts on Monday. Pentium II prices are slated to be cut on February 28 when the Pentium III arrives, Intel has said.

Linely Gwennap, editor director of the Microprocessor Report, believes that Intel could be setting itself up for a revenue shortfall if buying trends don't pan out as Intel is forecasting. "If only 10 percent of its sales shift from [the high end] Pentium II to Celeron, Intel will lose more than $1 billion in 1999 revenue due to the lower prices of the Celeron," according to Gwennap, writing in the most recent addition of the newsletter. Gwennap adds that this would happen only if buyers of Pentium II-based systems, mostly in the corporate market, start snapping up Celeron-based systems instead.

"There is no doubt that Intel has ignited a price war [with the Celeron] " he added. Intel doesn't agree. "I'm somewhat confounded by this," said Intel spokesperson Manny Vera. "Yes, we are getting aggressive with Celeron...then people assume there is a price war. But that [the Celeron chip line] is just a small chunk of our business." Intel also takes issue with the potential revenue shortfall. Intel CFO Andy Bryant gave some "guidance" recently in a meeting for financial analysts where he asserted that profit margins for 1999 are expected to be 57 percent, up 3 percent from In 1998.

Intel is counting on strong revenue from high-end processors such as the upcoming Pentium III processor and its Xeon line of workstation and server chips. Intel's chips for notebook PCs, in some cases, also sell at a premium. Intel also says that it is cheaper to make Celeron chips and therefore it doesn't take that big of a hit on profit margins. Despite what Intel says though, the low end of the market has all the hallmarks of a price war with Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) chips, which are expected to go for as little as $40 in March--almost unprecedented in the Intel-compatible chip market. AMD sells most of its chip to makers of low-end consumer PCs.

Ashok Kumar, an analyst at Piper Jaffray, predicted that the price of K6-2s sold to PC makers in March will be $40 for the 333-MHz version and range up to $60 for 400-MHz processor. Currently, Intel's lowest priced Celeron lists for $71. The popular 333-MHz version is priced at $90. The 400-MHz version, which is expected to be a hit, is priced at $158. A 433-MHz Celeron chip is due in March, said sources, while a 466-MHz version will come out in May with a 500-MHz chip to follow. Kumar expects that Celeron chips will comprise about 25 percent of the Intel "product mix" in the first quarter of 1999. "If there was a sudden shift in this mix, it would impact the bottom line," he said. Though he doesn't expect the scenerio that Gwennap postulates.

Meanwhile, resellers and chip dealers report that Intel has been more tight-lipped about processor pricing this year than in the past. Before, dealers would get price lists weeks or even months in advance. Now, most get the new price lists right before, or on the day of, the price cuts. "We're more confused than ever. They keep changing things on us," said one source. "They are not being very up front on pricing for the faster chips." Competition seems to be at the heart of the shift, said one source. In the past, Intel could dictate the price of chips and therefore could map out pricing. Now, with a smaller market share in the low end, Intel finds it has to adjust prices according to circumstances, which makes the price less predictable. And, although the company still does not have a lot of competition in the performance arena, price cuts in the low end of the market effect the high end. High end Pentium IIs, for example, can't be much more expensive than Celeron processors because the performance gap between the two lines has shrunk.

Source: News.com

Copyright (C) 1998-1999 The Active Network. All rights reserved.
Please click here for full terms of use and restrictions.