Is the chip shortage affecting your business

L

lambert

Well-known member
Watching hundreds of trucks parked in lots because of chips ( they are driving new trucks, parking them and pulling the chips so they can move other trucks). Subaru just shut down in North America yesterday. Is it crypto mining, pandemic shutdowns mostly the cause? Saw a story that crypto mining uses as much electricity as all of Australia.
 
The pandemic pushed increased demands on digital opium delivery systems, shortening the supply.

Some manufacturers underestimated how quickly the US market would rebound in late 2020, and shut down production beyond what was necessary... as everyone rushed back into market, supply was further shortened.

The world's two major suppliers of chips are Taiwan and South Korea, which are both under a looming threat from domination-minded China, further straining supply.

In 2020, several Chinese companies (ie, Huawei) began hoarding components fearing international sanctions for their role in spreading the aforementioned pandemic, further straining supply.

The factory fire in Japan and the abnormal freeze in Texas also temporarily shuttered two semiconductor factories, further straining supply.

Uncertainty in the future of the global reserve currency due to unsustainable deficit spending (US$) is pushing a search for a new global reserve, and some are eyeing bitcoin and other crypto, which pushes increased demand for fast processors to mine etc... further straining supply.

Cliff notes: thanks a lot, China.


Personally hasn't affected me much at the moment, aside from preventing my FX6 purchase (which may arguably be a good thing)... but it's going to affect us all eventually.
 
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Batutta said:
I luckily bought a new GPU around September of last year, an open box for a good price. I wanted to buy another one for my gaming rig but it's impossible to find anything. Also, get ready for a hard drive shortage. There's a new crypto currency that uses hard drive space instead of GPU cycles as proof of work. People are already stockpiling--

https://www.pcmag.com/news/chia-cryptocurrency-expected-to-cause-hard-drive-and-ssd-shortages
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Oh goodness. Just when it was getting easier. haha. Can' take anything for granted.
 
Saw tons of advice not to build a PC last fall due to price gouging and shortages. Luckily I was able to use apps like Hotstock and Disqus channels and got all parts at fair MSRP (including the RTX 3000 series and Ryzen 5000). I thought it was a bit of PIA but I wanted it before end of year for the tax write offs and since I am doing more remote edit work.

Wow, good thing. Can't believe these parts are now even harder to find, and good luck at MSRP! I read it may be another year for the shortage? Glad I snuck in the upgrade when I did. This would negatively effect my business if I was trying to build a new computer right now.
 
I ordered a new workstation shortly before the pdemic occurred last year. At first I was wishing I hadn't but then I was glad I did.
I just ordered one more SSD to allow me to clone my older system after I do an upgrade and full re-install (uhg) but hopefully no more PC part purchases for me for several years now!
I detest working on expensive computers
 
firehawk said:
I detest working on expensive computers
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REALLY? Building an expensive new computer is like Christmas to me! (well, I suppose the stress of installing an $800 CPU and putting on thermal paste and a clunky air cooler isn't exactly my idea of a low key evening... but still, I grew up doing this stuff, so its always tinged with a bit of nostalgia alongside a Pavlov's dog trigger of excitement).

It used to be an every other year rotation, but this last time around it had been 8 years since my last build. And wow setting up a fresh install is easier and quicker than ever. I definitely do not miss the fresh install process of 20 years ago.
 
Here in the UK none of this is on our news and the only thing I am noticing is some rises in the two way radio prices from China. $10 hikes per unit seem common on orders two weeks apart? The huge problem described here has not been reported here?
 
filmguy123 said:
REALLY? Building an expensive new computer is like Christmas to me! (well, I suppose the stress of installing an $800 CPU and putting on thermal paste and a clunky air cooler isn't exactly my idea of a low key evening... but still, I grew up doing this stuff, so its always tinged with a bit of nostalgia alongside a Pavlov's dog trigger of excitement).

It used to be an every other year rotation, but this last time around it had been 8 years since my last build. And wow setting up a fresh install is easier and quicker than ever. I definitely do not miss the fresh install process of 20 years ago.
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I'd like to hire you then :)
I can understand the excitement of doing it. I have a little bit of that in me too. Ever since my first NLE in 1998 I have slowly gotten less excited and more annoyed at having to work on expensive workstations. I have big hands and it's not fun reaching in to work on them while trying not to bump a high $ GPU or high $ something else. Plus I'm not really all that smart so I have to research a lot to try to figure out what to do and that takes time. I can appreciate powerful hardware and all, but I'm at the point now I just don't want to have to work on a system again.
But alas my 2013 system is due for one last upgrade and I am dreading it. Will probably have to pull the MB out to be able to change the AIO backplate and then change the CPU. The thing has 5 SSDs, lots of fans, 2 optical drives, card reader, add on cards. And perhaps worst of all is clean install Windows and all the tons of software/plugins which I am looking for all my serials and install programs. And hope I don't run into licensing problems. Thankfully I have 2 other systems to keep me going since jobs will surely happen when the system is down.
And thankfully there are helpful people on the internet who know stuff and are willing to share
 
I hear ya! Much easier to just buy a new case and build clean in that. I got the Fractal Meshify 2 XL; big cases are very easy to work in, and you’ll probably want a new motherboard and fans anyway if it’s been a daily driver for 8 years.

I moved my optical drives to external enclosures, and downsized multiple drives into fewer larger drives where possible. It costs more, but it’s a less messy long term. I’m guessing you could drop from 5 SSDs to 2 or 3.

But yeah, the software side can be a pain. I made an Evernote document with all my serials and plug in info, downloaded everything to a thumb drive in neat folders, and made all my plug in reinstalls in less than one hour, super smooth, no licensing issues. It was all much easier than I thought it would be!
 
paulears said:
Here in the UK none of this is on our news and the only thing I am noticing is some rises in the two way radio prices from China. $10 hikes per unit seem common on orders two weeks apart? The huge problem described here has not been reported here?
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Jaguar Land-rover has closed an entire production plant in Brum due to silicon shortages.
Other Romanies are reporting MCU's have gone from $4 to $40 each over the last 6 months.

IT is there in the UK but not hitting main stream news . The electronics trade press is awash with it.
 
Cars, even the average cars these days have 150+ microprocessors in them.
90% of the value in cars is the electronics these days.
 
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