2021 was by far the worst year in history for buy some electronic devices. The shortage that the industry is suffering is something not seen in decades, where it is almost impossible to get a PS5, a Xbox series x, or a graphics card. Even the auto industry has component shortage problems. But will this problem be fixed sometime in 2022?
In 2020 the perfect storm began. Factories, waiting for demand to plummet, closed. The large companies in the market have contracted less capacity to chipmakers expecting a drop in demand, as is the case in the automobile market. However, the demand did not drop so much, and all those who did not contract capacity found themselves in a complex situation where, if they wanted to receive new chips, they had to queue and wait weeks or months late.
The number of factories is going to increase
Many people had to stay indoors, which triggered the demand for computers and televisions, so part of the production was oriented to them. At the end of 2020, cryptocurrencies exploded again, causing graphics cards to become scarce. A year later, the problem is far from being solved.
For 2022, expectations are far from promising. A few months ago, there were those who claimed that, in the face of summer, the shortage it was going to start to work itself out. Unfortunately, the effects seem to continue to spread, as those who are currently waiting to buy products will do so as soon as there is stock. That, coupled with other factors, will keep the shortage with us for at least another year.
What is certain is that the shortage will not be the same throughout the year. For the first half we will continue as before, but for the second half of the year it may soften slightly, according to companies such as Samsung, Qualcomm or AMD. Manufacturers have increased manufacturing capacity, and in 2022 and in the coming years new chip factories will be opening all over the world, including in Europe.
In 2021, 19 new chip manufacturing plants began to be built, with 10 more to begin in 2022. Of those 29 factories, China will have 8, Taiwan another 8, America will have 6, and Europe and the Middle East will have 3. South Korea will have 2 and Japan another 2 new ones. All of them will have a capacity to manufacture 2.6 million wafers of an equivalent size of 200 mm.
Most of them will not start to install new equipment until 2023, although some will be able to start operating this year. The problem is that demand will continue to grow, so until they are all fully operational we will not be able to begin to see a return to normality.
AMD gives hope on PS5 stock
In the case of PS5The latest sales figures show that Sony has sold 14.5 million units through November. By the end of March 2022, Sony wanted to have distributed 22 million units, but the figure is probably somewhat lower because the chip stock is still low.
From AMD, who manufacture the PlayStation 5 GPU and CPU, affirm that it would not be strange that, from fall 2022, it might be possible buy a PS5 without stock problems in online stores and large stores. Therefore, it seems that for the second half of the year there is hope that the stock will increase. Meanwhile, we will have to be attentive to when online stores launch stock, since the units usually last a few minutes available until they are sold out.