Technology is an ever-evolving industry due to the many innovations that developers find each and every day. As part of that, new, powerful processors and more are produced by companies like Nvidia, AMD, and Intel in order to keep up with the advances to everyday products. Due to COVID-19, many lockdowns have hindered supply chains that create the hardware like Nvidia's GPUs necessary for devices such as high-end gaming computers. Unfortunately, reports are coming in that say that with the coronavirus variants going around, the issues with production are only getting worse.
The supply issues happening with Nvidia and AMD have been known for some time, with how the CEO of Nvidia has said shortages might persist into 2023. The cause is that the supply chains have been hit with mandates in order to either limit production to meet COVID-19 regulations or have had to halt production altogether. These issues with production have hurt almost every major industry around the world, but now the short supply of hardware is about to affect almost every tech consumer imaginable.
According to a report by PC Gamer, on top of the silicon shortage hardware manufacturers like Nvidia have had to work with, most aluminum manufacturers have yet to be restored to full functionality after COVID-19 lockdowns. While silicon had already hurt most graphics card production, aluminum is used for things such as resistors, coils, and capacitors. While those may sound like minor pieces to a motherboard or graphics card, the presence of them is needed for most hardware to function, which means more products can't be made.
While the well for these parts isn't exactly dry, the wait time for manufacturers to get their hands on them has skyrocketed. That's resulted in a bottleneck when it comes to production in regards to demand. Unfortunately, while this means that GPU shortages will continue, it also leads to a potential problem beyond just gaming PCs in that these capacitors are needed in almost every modern tech device available. That means the shortage can affect things from car electronics to even smartphone production.
It's troubling to think about the things consumers use in their daily lives not being readily available due to production shortages, but the reality may come sooner than anyone could have ever predicted. Where the issues on the supply line used to lead to the potential of products like the Rumored AMD RX 6600 release being delayed, now the situation is growing into the worst possibility imaginable, and fast.
Potential buyers should note that these production line issues with companies like Nvidia won't be truly felt for a fair while, and once the production line catches up, could actually lead to an oversupply of products in 2023 to meet old demand. For now, gamers should stay mindful and careful when it comes to their hardware, as there may be a chance what they have now won't be replaceable in the near or far future.
Source: PC Gamer