AMD Cuts Ryzen 7000 Production Following a Mostly Tepid Consumer Response

Earlier this month, information appeared online (compiled from German-based retailers) suggesting that the initial launch of AMD’s new Ryzen 7000 processors hadn’t exactly proven to be a huge hit with consumers. – And it wasn’t, incidentally, born out of any kind of overall market negativity. Consumers were (for reasons we’ll explore shortly) simply not buying them in the numbers which were largely anticipated.

Following a report via TechPowerUp, however, it would appear that Ryzen 7000 sales are so sluggish that AMD has just ordered that its production be cut in order to better meet current consumer demand. Yes, they’re already (allegedly) scaling back their latest CPU platform despite the fact that it’s only been circa three weeks since they were released!

AMD Cuts Ryzen 7000 Production

One of the biggest challenges facing the Ryzen 7000 series is that it isn’t simply a transition to a new generation of processors. For the first time since Ryzen was originally released back in 2017, Ryzen 7000 has seen the introduction of a new AM5 socket and the requirement for DDR5 memory (no DDR4 support has (yet) been offered).

Put simply, making the move requires not just the outlay for the CPU, but also for a new motherboard and RAM. Of which, neither of the latter is notably ‘affordable’ at the moment. – In a nutshell, even a relatively humble inexpensive adoption would set you back circa £700-£800 which is clearly quite the outlay at a time when many budgets are quite tight.

This will, of course, get better (or at least more accessible) when less expensive motherboards such as the B650 platform arrive. And more so as DDR5 memory continues to lose its early adopter tax. – In this regard though, way back in April/May AMD had already said that they didn’t expect Ryzen 7000 to be an initially huge success due to the problems of such a major transition for their customers. For them to be cutting production just 3 weeks after release, however, clearly indicates that they may have massively underestimated just how tepid consumers’ reactions would be.

And suddenly, Intel retaining at least some DDR4 support for their Alder Lake and latest Raptor Lake platforms seems to be making a lot of sense. – Going full-on 100% with DDR5 may ultimately be a move AMD will come to regret.

For the moment though, we again see that Ryzen 7000, despite highly positive reviews, is not really selling well. Not because it’s bad, but because people already on AM4 either can’t warrant or can’t afford the upgrade.

What do you think? – Let us know in the comments!