Intel says it’s selling every affordable laptop chip it can make

Intel’s CFO says it’s ‘not optimistic about next year in terms of memory.’

Stevie Bonifield

Oct 29, 2026, 11:42 PM UTC

Image: Alex Castro / The Verge

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Stevie Bonifield

is a news writer covering all things consumer tech. Stevie started out at Laptop Mag writing news and reviews on hardware, gaming, and AI.

During Intel’s latestearnings call, CEO Lip-Bu Tan said that demand for itsbudget-focused Wildcat Lake chips“is outstripping supply.” According to CFO David Zinsner, the chips are now sold out. Zinsner said Intel has “seen significant growth in Wildcat Lake. It’s coming exactly at the right time because it’s cost-optimized and we’re seeing a lot of focus in that regard.”

Asshortages of RAMand other components have driven up PC prices over recent months, Intel’s Wildcat Lake chips have been appearing in new lower-cost Windows laptops on par with the MacBook Neo, like the newDell XPS 13or theHP Omnibook 5 14. Wildcat Lake laptops like these have budget-friendly starting prices, but often with just 8GB of RAM, which Windows laptops canstruggle to get byon.

Intel doesn’t expect the memory shortage to improve any time soon. Zinsner responded to a question about memory supply, saying, “Make no mistake, we are not optimistic about next year in terms of memory.” He added, “we’ll, you know, have to see in ‘28 whether things improve, but our expectation is that it does not improve in ‘27.” That’s more optimistic thanSK Hynix’s predictionthat the RAM shortage will drag on through 2030.

Tan also acknowledgedthe PC demand slowdown, saying, “The industry continues to navigate one of the most significant supply shortages in the [sic] history, driven by the unprecedented demand for super intelligence,”referring to AI. Zinsner went on to respond to a question during the earnings call, saying, “We do think the PC is going to go through a renaissance despite this.”

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