Over the past year the potential tech shortages have started to emerge as something a little more definite, the turbulence brought about by the pandemic had led to a semiconductor shortage as production levels started to fall off toward the start of 2020 due to closures and the over ordering for a surplus by some bigger tech giants meant that those in desperate need fell short. But what does this shortage mean for you and your own tech hopes in the near future?
Next gen console shortages expected to last for a few years – If you’ve been hoping to get your hands on a Series X or a PlayStation 5 in particular, you’ve been met with shortages from every major retailer with the only option being turning to scalped options on other marketplaces. With gaming seeing a huge rise over this past year in particular as some of the favourite online services like those found here have continued to grow, it’s no surprise to see the demand become so high too, and with the next generation of games finding announcements over this past week too it may only look to increase the hype too. You’ll have to be waiting for a while longer though, the CEO of Sony recently stated that stocks may not to return to normal levels for a number of years, as the shortage could last further than just 2022.
(Image from electrek.co)
The issue could extend to automobiles too – The same semiconductors that are used in our day-to-day electronics are also used in our cars as thousands are used in our modern automobiles, more so in the growing usage of electric vehicles as concerns around the environment continue to grow. The biggest EV manufacturers, notably Tesla, have long had difficult meeting the demand with the supply, and this is something that may become that much more difficult due to the shortage as there are expectations that supply may fall off a little further for the coming years. As one of the companies that did opt to pay in advance to receive a surplus, they may be able to avoid part of the shortage but may not be able to escape completely unscathed.
It will take a number of years for the supply to catch up, as it’s not simply a case of speeding up or matching the production – the sites that produce these chips are already running at capacity and so the shortage means that those not produced fall permanently out of circulation. The hope is that demand slowly falls enough for the capacity to catch up and at that point things will return to normal, and as such the goalposts for a potential period of time where this happens will continue to change.
