Demand for Intel's Coffee Lake processors has been as hot as a good cup of pour-over, judging by recent e-tail prices and stock levels. To keep up with this strong demand, the company is adding a new assembly-and-test site in Chengdu, China to perform final integration of those CPUs. Intel says it's spinning up the new facility "to ensure a continuous supply" of the entire Coffee Lake Core i5 and Core i7 lineup for desktops, so we can hope that the added capacity leads to more reliable stock and lower prices. Chips from the new facility should begin arriving to the company's customers (i.e. system integrators and retailers) December 15.
The news comes by way of a product change notification document posted to Intel's Quality Document Management System. Aside from the news of the facility itself, the document shows how to spot processors assembled and tested in Chengdu versus those assembled in the company's existing facilities in Malaysia. If your Core i7-8700K, Core i7-8700, Core i5-8600K, or Core i5-8400 CPUs carry an "Assembled in China" remark on the label, they came from Chengdu. You can muse on this little bit of trivia as you put together your new Coffee Lake PC. Thanks to TR tipster SH SOTN for the heads-up.