Intel Atom costs just $6, serves as cash cow?

Intel's already inexpensive Atom processor could cost just a fraction of its actual price to build, information sent to TG Daily reveals. While official pricing leaked online suggested that the price to computer makers would cost a still-low $29 for a basic 1.6GHz model, the actual cost to make and ship a given processor is said by a purportedly reliable source to be just $6, or a fifth of the actual price. The cost is said to exclude the actual mainboard chipset and doesn't include higher-end models, such as the 1.87GHz dual-core version.

The difference between the price for Intel and the retail price for end users is also reported to be high enough that the semiconductor company would make as much as ten times its manufacturing costs on every chip sold. Intel has not commented on the claims, though the cost difference may suggest higher prices than necessary for the devices which will use Atom, which will include the Eee PC 900 and Apple's rumored ultra-mobile devices.

Filed under: computers, industry
Other story tags: Intel, Atom