They are stockpiling working chips to prepare to send them to the OEMs for verification. Intel probably has to send out tens of thousands of CPUs for this, ever

They are stockpiling working chips to prepare to send them to the OEMs for verification. Intel probably has to send out tens of thousands of CPUs for this, every OEM is going to want hundreds to verify their systems before they start mass production. It's an indicator that Intel thinks they have worked out the major yield issues and is preparing for production runs.