In recent months, Intel has struggled with a lack of CPU supply. As widely reported, delays in the 10 nm had a domino effect on the production of 14 nm. With demand outstripping supply, the company had to make difficult decisions and increase its investments. One area falling victim to the supply crisis is the low-end SoC market. According to a new report, the supply of Gemini Lake chips that supply the Pentium and Celeron processors is scarce.
Intel Gemini Lake is 14nm chips that use the Goldmont Plus architecture as low-cost Celeron and Pentium chips for low-power and low-cost units. These have become a good choice for both low-cost OEM devices and compact PCs. A current example is the compact PC platform hard kernel Odroid-H2, an x86 equivalent to Rasberry Pi.
Rumours and speculations about storage problems with Intel Gemini Lake chips arose after the hard kernel Odroid-H2 lost the stocks of the Celeron J4105 chip, according to Hardkernel, the first shipment they can receive is only in February or March next year, at least 3 months away. As a low volume customer, it makes sense for you to take a while to receive the chip. However, it shouldn’t take that long, suggesting that Intel is behind on the supply. A month or so would be a reasonable delivery as Intel should have additional stock under normal circumstances. This has undoubtedly triggered the alarms.
Apparently, Intel prioritizes the production of Intel Core and Xeon processors at 14 nm over any other chip at this time.