PC component shortages may finally be easing, says TrendForce

[nanoguy]

In brief: PC sales are usually more modest in the first few months of any given year, and this time it will be no different. However, there are signs that the supply of essential components will slowly improve in the coming months, which could help manufacturers that are still struggling to meet demand from both consumers and enterprises.

The chip shortage is far from over. Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger believes it will last until next year, and industry insiders have similar predictions for passive components that are just as important in the process of manufacturing consumer and enterprise hardware.

The symptoms are clear, with Sony now making PlayStation 4 consoles to make up for PlayStation 5 shortages, Nintendo's Switch console being in short supply, and Nvidia re-launching RTX 20 and RTX 30 GPUs with more VRAM that don’t have any chance of being remotely affordable or a good value for most gamers out there.

However, that doesn’t mean it’s all doom and gloom for the foreseeable future. GPU prices have stopped trending upward, and companies like Gigabyte, Asus, MSI, and ASRock are expected to see an increase in shipments throughout 2022. Intel has started shipping its first Arc Alchemist GPUs to OEMs, and no less than 50 laptops and desktops are expected to launch this year with these new graphics solutions inside.

According to TrendForce, material shortages for PCs actually started alleviating in November 2021, which is why laptop manufacturers like Razer are not shying away from equipping new models with DDR5 RAM. Retail availability is a different story, but things will likely improve as manufacturers improve capacity for components that are currently in short supply, such as power management integrated circuits (PMICs).

SSD controllers with a PCIe 3.0 interface are now in short supply, as are other components needed for Intel’s Alder Lake platform. These components currently have a lead time of eight to 12 weeks, but the supply of Wi-Fi chips, USB-C controllers, and PMICs is slowly improving. Smartphone shipments may suffer in the coming months due to an insufficient supply of 4G modems as well as touchscreen and display driver ICs. Lead times for these components are between 20 to 40 weeks, mostly because of limited foundry capacity and reduced silicon output in China.

While this is not the most positive report on the state of the supply chain, it does bring some hope that things will improve a bit this year.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/92961-pc-component-shortages-may-finally-easing-trendforce.html

 

[Austinturner]

Lets see if china keeps locking down entire cities and if they can keep omicron from spreading and open up again quickly, there is still a massive risk that key component factories or logistics centres in locked down cities could cut weeks of production out of the supply chain…

 

[QuantumPhysics]

Fortunately, I had all my equipment before COVID leaving only DLC to “get”.

The only thing I had a hard time finding was Oculus Quest 2, but supply replenishments have been good.

 

[winjer]

Scalpers and miners will make sure to continue to ruin everything, for everyone else.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

Yeah, we've heard this dog and pony show before. no reason to believe this will ease anytime soon.

Lets see if china keeps locking down entire cities and if they can keep omicron from spreading and open up again quickly, there is still a massive risk that key component factories or logistics centres in locked down cities could cut weeks of production out of the supply chain…

If they have any common sense they'll look at south africa, or the netherlands, and not take such dramatic action. But then the rest of the world doesnt hold much promise in that regard.

 

[0dium]

Right after news about Ethereum going PoS and losing 20% of the value

 

[Austinturner]

If they have any common sense they'll look at south africa, or the netherlands, and not take such dramatic action. But then the rest of the world doesnt hold much promise in that regard.

That would be a massive loss of face and kill enough people (no prior waves to already have killed the vulnerable and a vaccine that may or may not keep people out of hospital) to be a pretty serious dent on the reputation of Xi as he approaches his ambitious next term (he extended the 10yr term limit for himself). I can’t see them doing it this year, the supply chain disruptions won’t be that costly for them in the scheme of things.

 

[Watzupken]

Actually the message is very contradicting. Hardware sellers are claiming that it is not supply that is not catching up, but rather demand is outstripping supply. Then we also hear that supply is finally catching up due to situation where shortage of parts are improving.

In any case, I feel manufacturers' persistent increase in pricing of their products is starting to put a hard stop to peoples' demand. For example, Nvidia and AMD's daring price increase on their GPU is driven mainly by miners that are willing to scoop up the cards at a premium. Most sensible gamers would have bowed out of the chase after the new GPUs due to the incredible price premium that we have to pay. The RTX 3080 which was released at close to 2/3 the MSRP of the RTX 2080 Ti ended up more expensive than the RTX 2080 Ti now. Even the RTX 3070 Ti cost more than the RTX 2080 Ti (prices in the past) in my country.

 

[godrilla]

This upcoming black Friday 2022 looking forward to my next build with AM5, Ryzen 4 , DDR5 ram and next gen gpu flagship at hopefully at msrp. One can hope that prices return to MSRP end of this year.

 

[RedGuard]

One can hope that prices return to MSRP end of this year.

One can hope, indeed...

 

[takaozo]

There is nothing wrong with the supply chain, except the supply is missing.
Stock products from China arrive in just the same time as before or faster.
And the fact that factory's sell direct to end-users (scalpers or miners) makes the supply even less for normal distribution chain.
Everybody has seen an opportunity and took it, aka raising the prices. Starting with R&D, factory's, resellers and end-shops. And this is how we have now 3 times the original price.
Damn, even if you are an monopoly like nGreedia you can stock up a month and sell for double the price next month and blame low factory capacity.

 

[Aceseven]

Did you hear that 980ti? you may get to retire this year!

 

[BadThad]

Hummm.....I doubt it.

 

[Loadedaxe]

We have heard this all before. Nvidia, AMD, and aibs have all tasted the good life, soaking consumers for all they can. The days of buying parts at decent prices are gone. All of you that bought things at inflated prices are the ones to blame. Enjoy your $3000 gpu, its what you will be spending for the foreseeable future.