Silicon shortage discussion

[Siress]

This is crazy. I'm accustomed to the GPU market being frenzied, but now I'm hearing that the cost of vehicles is climbing because of this?! There's rumor that the shortage won't recover until early 2023. Computer parts that are 3+ years old are fetching their original MSRP on eBay.

Anyone made any interesting moves as result of the shortage? Have an idea of the root cause and when can be expected to recover?

The only interesting thing I've done was sell my old graphics card (1080 Ti) and buy a used workstation laptop newer than the old graphics card with the proceeds. The shortage hasn't hit the used workstation market...yet...and I wanted one anyway. I'm hoping I can pick up an RTX 3000 series card at actual MSRP sometime next year or the year after.

[BrickHaus]

Its insane to think we are still having issues. With no formal knowledge of the process, I dont understand why they cant just uptick production to catch back up, but Im sure there is a lot more to logistics than I realize. My skeptic brain feels they could fix the supply/demand crisis, but tech companies are enjoying the inflated prices too much.

I have a 2011 GM truck, and Ive considered selling it just cuz the truck market has been hit already, and I could get more trade in value than I paid for it. On the other hand, I much enjoy not having a payment.

I have felt it in the pc market though, as Ive been building a light gaming rig. Im grateful to have a friend who was willing to sell me their 1650 super for a reasonable price in today's market. its honestly been enough card for me.

The guys at Micro Center said they get 10x 30 series cards a day, but people camp out to buy them so Id have to do the same to get one. So it is possible to get them at msrp I think. (Unless MC is also selling them marked up) i honestly figure Ill keep my blinders on til my current rig needs major upgrades, and hope the shortages are subsiding by then.


Otherwise I have mainly been paying off my vehicels because I know their value is increasing with the shortages.

I do hope this potentially drives us to a new level of tech, or semi conductor tech where we can use other materials to make these chips. And or we would increase our recycling process to improve waste production as a whole.

[smiffington]

I just got my 3080 backorder in on Monday. Because I placed the order with the local store (memory express in London) back on Feb 4 I got it for the original MSRP as well. They since stopped doing backorders after I signed up, and the other store in town Canada Computers has been caught red handed ignoring backorders and sending all their 30 series stock to their pre built department. So pretty much buying from a scalper is the only way left to get a card up here.

I've been using a 1660 super that I got new in November. I'm kinda curious to throw it on eBay for a penny and see what happens.

[Siress]

All of the solar panels produced up to now and well into the future have such poor efficiency numbers that recycling them will net a huge return of raw materials and replacement panels with improved efficiency should offset the cost considerably. However, silicon is the second most abundant element on the planet. I don't think supply of silicon material is the issue, rather the supply from silicon chip MFRs.

[BrickHaus]

I guess I figured the manufacturing of the raw materials was the bottleneck vs the chip manufacturing itself.

[Grendel]

Limited number of manufacturers chasing newer more lucrative chip/device production and abandoning many of the more mundane, cheap and more "archaic" architectures is a big part of it. My company is dealing with this to the point we are buying the production line equipment and hiring other mfg to build new lines to build some of the specialty ICs we need. A friend of mine just got hired out of retirement to look into some old state side facilities that were mothballed 10-20 years ago and survey what will be needed to bring them up to a condition to divest the reliance on SE Asia chip production. Wayne started this work about a year ago because the industry was already having supply issues. We (consumer electronics companies) put too many eggs in one basket in pursuit of Lean and cheap and now are playing the price.

Ford is building vehicles (trucks) in Kentucky by the thousands that 99,9999% done just waiting on the ECU production to catch up right now.

[Cdn_Cuda]

Just as long as it doesn’t affect our other favourite use of silicon… ( x ) ( x )…….

[punkncat]

Among other things, there is a massive drought that has been ongoing in Taiwan, which happens to be the worlds leading producer of the chips that are needed for PC, GPU, Vehicles, even appliances. The industry requires a lot of water for the fab process and the entire nation is on water restrictions at least up to last week or so. They are expecting seasonal rains that should help a lot. This, coupled with the 'rona thing and demand have created a perfect storm in the market.

(oh, ah, Steve at Gamers Nexus if you were wondering)

[Shaftski]

There's been reasons for years to start producing domestically but basically the industry ignored the warning signs. Probably one of the more important ones is the abundance of counterfeit IC's out there. This is a national security issue. If military contractors are getting stiffed with counterfeit chips, our nation's defenses could fail. I don't buy IC's from amazon for my projects anymore because I don't trust the parts.

But that involves a company having to pay fair wages, benefits, follow strict environmental laws, and deal with US corporate tax laws. Which they all want no part of.

[Cdn_Cuda]

I think you hit the nail on the head about labour force. Way easier and much more profit keeping production outside of North America. Cheap labour. Running a factory in NA means you run the risk of being undercut but those operating elsewhere as well, as consumers are cheap.

[chrislognshot]

I think you hit the nail on the head about labour force. Way easier and much more profit keeping production outside of North America. Cheap labour. Running a factory in NA means you run the risk of being undercut but those operating elsewhere as well, as consumers are cheap.

we are building new plants and going to cost billions. other reason do not have many in usa since have to get part to build the plants from china too.

[Shaftski]

Then on top of it the nonsense going on between the aussie govt an china right now regarding regional trade. Literally calling each other names and posting memes. In the meantime, consumer good prices skyrocket as supply diminishes.

[Seajay]

Yup... I've given up at this point. Either spend on a pre-built, a laptop, or just wait. My 980 is fine... but I really wanted to setup my office with new tech and how I want with a LG CX. I'm just going to wait until 2023. Tech has this funny habit of progressing rapidly and I'll just keep riding that wave.

Instead I'll be customizing a desk and I just bought ear sex.... I mean some HiFiMan Sundara Headphones. (SO GOOD).

This is going to be a expensive tech wave, with SSD prices increasing as well, but tech is still advancing and demand will, I expect almost violently, fluctuate again once production meets demand.

[Rusty Brass]

China just banned crypto so the shortage should be letting up a hell of a lot faster than it would have otherwise. There might even be a glut of used hardware getting liquidated as all of their mining operations shut down.

[vijil]

I just got a Gnote 10+ second hand for cheap, so there are ways around it!

Crypto ban is interesting. China may be shooting themselves in the foot there, but then again they've been unloading magazines worth into their feet for decades and still seem to be doing ok. They're soon to pass the US as the dominant global power after all.

[warbosschoppa]

It sucks, I was really hoping to upgrade my 2080Ti but I'll probably end up waiting for rDNA3.