There’s no single, single reason why it’s been so difficult to buy certain PC components over the past year – it’s like a perfect storm filled with unfortunate circumstances, coincidences, and annoyances. undeserved nuisance. That said, one of the biggest underlying causes of MIA CPU and graphics card supplies is a shortage of the chips needed to make them, and that’s the shortage. Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger has warned that could continue into 2023.
Speaking in Malaysia (and as reported by Nikkei Asia), Gelsinger warned that industry efforts to expand production will take time to take effect. Specifically, efforts that began about two years ago to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic will need at least three years before results are in place. Other production drives are underway – the Intel chief was in Malaysia after announcing a 10-year plan to boost manufacturing in the country – albeit more long-term measures, like construction and expansion factory, won’t make a difference anytime soon.
It should be noted that currently, Intel CPUs are not too difficult to use, even the newest and best Lake Alder 12th generation microprocessor. But recent shortages have sometimes caused the prices of parts from Intel and AMD to skyrocket, and we all know how difficult it is to find a graphics card at a reasonable price.
Indeed, when we talk about “chip shortages”, it doesn’t really refer to fully built CPUs. Those are the small semiconductors that are integral to CPUs and GPUs, as well as less game-y hardware on PCs like smart home kits and even cars. The pandemic has managed to disrupt semiconductor production and increase demand, as more people stay and work from home increasing demand for laptops and PC parts. Add in other factors such as international trade barriers and a drought in Taiwan earlier this year, and the availability of certain components will always be problematic even before cryptocurrency miners Agents and opportunistic agents appear to further complicate the demand side. The most recent casualty seems to be “new” from Nvidia 12GB GeForce RTX 2060, which is said to have such limited availability that many retailers don’t even bother listing it.
It’s all basically a big hot mess and will probably continue to be that way for a while. Intel, AMD, and Nvidia are all set to announce major new product lines in the PC gaming space next year, by my calculations. before 2023, so we’ll have to see how they can cope with this multitude of ongoing problems.
