Volgens bronnen van The Register ligt de oorzaak van de Intel leveringsproblemen in een botteneck bij het verpakkingsproces van de FC-PGA Pentium III's:
"Supply is a little bit tight now," admitted Intel Taiwan spokeswoman Deborah Yen. She attributed the problem to a forecasting error. "Forecasts from OEMs and our internal forecasts were a little low."However, sources at motherboard manufacturers claimed that the shortage is a result of a bottleneck at the CPU packaging stage, not just a forecasting error.
According to these sources, Intel has experienced difficulties putting the CPU into FC-PGA packaging, which will enable it to connect to motherboards that use Intel's newer, cheaper, Socket 370 design -- the Pentium III was originally designed for Slot 1 motherboards.
However, Yen emphatically denied this. "No, That's not true, in fact we had that product [Socket 370 Pentium III] available last year."