Server processors were meant to be the boring corner of the AI boom. The exotic money went to graphics accelerators, while the central processing units sitting beside them were treated as a solved problem, cheap, plentiful, and interchangeable. That assumption is coming apart in China.
Intel and AMD have signed longer-term supply commitments with Chinese server customers as data centre CPU prices climb, according to Reuters, which cited two people familiar with the talks.
The contracts lock in purchase volumes rather than fixed prices, a structure that leaves buyers exposed if the shortage drags on.
China is a particularly tight corner of that market, partly because it has spent two years living inside Washington’s export controls.
The 💜 of EU techThe latest rumblings from the EU tech scene, a story from our wise ol' founder Boris, and some questionable AI art. It's free, every week, in your inbox. Sign up now!With access to the most powerful Western accelerators restricted, Chinese operators have leaned harder on the components they can still buy freely, and general-purpose server CPUs from Intel and AMD remain among them.
