Intel’s ever-popular Atom N270 processor chip could be about to get a price hike, according to SlashGear.

Industry sources at netbook and MID manufacturers report that Intel are putting serious thought into raising the price of the N270 chip to about the same as the N280.

The reason for the price hike, should it happen, is an increase in demand for the N270 by new netbook makers, and if you read this or any other netbook site, you should know by now just how many companies are trying to cash in on the boom. If they don’t up the prices, there are fears that there could be a shortage of N270 chips by next month.

Meanwhile, both the Atom Z550 & Z515 chips are facing delays until around mid-April according to the same sources. Using Intel’s US15W chipset, the Z550 will run at 2GHz, while the Z515 will use either the US15W or UL11L chipsets and run at 1.2GHz.

Intel has yet to comment on any of this, leaving us without confirmation.