Blame Intel for your AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D stock shortages. That’s according to AMD executives who, during a roundtable interview at the CES 2025 trade show this week, blamed Intel’s “horrible” next-gen gaming CPU launch for causing higher-than-expected demand for AMD’s own flagship CPU.
It’s been true to say that AMD has consistently produced the best gaming CPUs in recent years, with the 9800X3D now the current champion. The latest Intel effort to break the mold didn’t go exactly to plan, either, with Arrow Lake CPUs like the Intel Core Ultra 7 265K offering poor gaming performance on launch.
In comments made to Tom’s Hardware, AMD executive Frank Azor explained that while the company knew that they’d “built a great part” in the 9800X3D, the company “didn’t know the competitor [Intel] had built a horrible one.” Azor said that, as a result, demand for the 9800X3D has been “a little higher” than the company initially forecasted.
That caused 9800X3D stock issues as soon as the chip was officially launched, although AMD stated just before Christmas that it expects improved 9800X3D stock availability across the first few months of 2025.
Given that AMD’s last-gen CPUs like the 7800X3D had performed better than flagship Intel CPUs like the Intel Core i9 14900K, it would have been a fair assessment from AMD that Intel would react to these better-performing AMD Ryzen X3D chips with a more competitive product this time around. However, that hasn’t been the case, with Intel Core Ultra 200 CPUs struggling to perform, even against Intel’s own old Raptor Lake CPUs.
Intel has committed to improving gaming performance on its new CPUs, claiming that new Arrow Lake fixes address most of the issues, with one more fix to come. For AMD, however, it doesn’t matter – it’s won this round, and it’ll be counting its profits as a result.
While you might struggle to pick one up for the time being, you can check out our AMD Ryzen 9 9800X3D review to see our thoughts on this top-spec gaming CPU and why we reckon it’s the best you can buy for your next gaming PC build.