No, AMD didn't slash Ryzen prices ahead of Threadripper launch

Sorry, Internet: AMD didn’t officially “slash,” “cut,” or even nick prices of its Ryzen CPUs in anticipation of the company’s Threadripper CPU, the company said.

AMD sought to squash several news stories that have circulated over the last few days, saying AMD trimmed prices of its Ryzen chips. The company denied there were any across-the-board price cuts. “We have noted some speculative articles appearing commenting on AMD’s pricing following Computex and would like to reiterate that Ryzen 7 and Ryzen 5 pricing remains unchanged,” the company told PCWorld.

Some stories cited the launch of the company’s Threadripper as a reason for the supposed cuts. However, Threadripper is expected to be far more expensive than the Ryzen 7 and Ryzen 5, so there’d be no reason for AMD to make cuts in anticipation of that chip.

AMD didn’t have an explanation for the price cuts but suggested it could be an individual store’s sale. “Any promotional deals or special pricing on Ryzen processors is partner/retailer driven within their business,” an AMD official told PCWorld.

A similar non-story occurred with Intel’s CPUs, too. Shortly after AMD’s Ryzen lineup hit the streets in March, several news outlets said Intel had begun “slashing” prices in reaction. Many of the stories, however, cited small price reductions at a retailer known for using CPUs as loss leaders. At that time, Intel officials told PCWorld there had been no price cuts announced and described any stories saying that as “inaccurate.”

The story behind the story: AMD and Intel are jockeying for consumers’ hard-earned cash while trying also to impress investors, so perception can be as important as reality. AMD likely doesn’t want the false news stories to create a perception that it’s coming from a position of weakness.