Global Chip Shortage Threatens Production of Laptops, Smartphones and More


Nvidia’s in trouble…

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invidious.snopyta.org invidious.snopyta.org
 
Not really related to the thread, and all news I'd already read and heard through other sources, but in general I don't think there's anything wrong will collecting news and reporting on it on youtube. Not any news actually related to the chip shortage though. He even goes to say that the reason your SSDs are going to get more expensive is down to cryptocurrencies and not just chip shortages, so it's kind of anti-chip-shortage news.
 
levi said:
Not really related to the thread, and all news I'd already read and heard through other sources, but in general I don't think there's anything wrong will collecting news and reporting on it on youtube. Not any news actually related to the chip shortage though. He even goes to say that the reason your SSDs are going to get more expensive is down to cryptocurrencies and not just chip shortages, so it's kind of anti-chip-shortage news.
Click to expand...
Uh except for the part where he says:
“Maybe we’ll all have graphics cards by the time it does... Maybe. But the next big shortage we’ll have to worry about might not even be chips; it may actually be storage. Which does involve chips.”
He goes on to explain that cryptocurrency miners are moving to en-masse purchasing of high density storage (SSDs etc.) as a workaround to the demand for graphics cards (which is an issue in the first place because cryptocurrency miners have already been buying those en-masse, and the global chip shortage is affecting their resupply...)

So yes, it is absolutely relevant to this thread and shows how the global chip shortage is affecting other areas in ways that people might not have considered.

There was another article somewhere about the price of SSDs being likely to go up - in no small part due to the pandemic and the global chip shortage - so this cryptocurrency mining workaround will only add to that problem.
 
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And on the subject of cryptocurrency mining (FPGAs etc...), further knock on effects:
“Production Delay Update
On the topic of our manufacturing schedule, we’ve been exploring options to pull in production, including the possibility of buying a limited quantity of slightly less capable Xilinx FPGAs at triple the cost. Unfortunately, all such "solutions" we’ve identified so far would either have compromised production quality or arbitrarily disadvantaged some portion of our backers, so we’re holding the line for now. Production is currently set to begin in November, and we’re praying that our original FPGA order does not get delayed further.

That being said, we’re continuing to press on other components that could be available earlier, such as the keyboard and the battery, to ensure that we don’t have a shortage if supply chain woes metastasize beyond semiconductors. We are seeing a worrying lack of capacity in all parts of the supply chain, and our concerns are only exacerbated by our inability to visit vendors in person and by the deep backlog of large orders that is discouraging manufacturers from spending time on smaller ones.

Although top economists routinely assure us that the huge amount of stimulus money injected into the world economy will not result in inflation, I can say first-hand and unequivocally that, as far as electronics production goes, the supply chain cannot ramp production capability at a rate commensurate with the increased demand resulting from the stimulus. Prices of raw material are going up across the board. Maybe economists can’t call this phenomenon inflation because it’s not immediately impacting the shelf price of finished goods, but most electronics aren’t pure commodities like oil (for which prices at the pump will rise within hours of a supply-chain incident). Whatever you call it, it’s definitely causing immediate difficulties for small players like us.”

- https://www.crowdsupply.com/sutajio...pre-boot-testing-certification-and-time-lines
 
Phlyra said:
Sounds like a couple-of-days-late April fools \o/
Click to expand...

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And there is cramfs, which might be useful.
Note that when (don't remember who) tried these on the Pandora, it became noticeably slower, so it might not be a good idea.

I was tongue-in-cheeck with the remark, but it might be that buying stocks of companies that have this technology might be profitable.

or even just the name is enough:
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'Oxygen' rally in Indian stock market. Name just enough to lift shares

Bombay Oxygen, National Oxygen Ltd and Bhagawati Oxygen Ltd have surged 47% or more this month
www.livemint.com www.livemint.com
 
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Phlyra said:
Although top economists routinely assure us that the huge amount of stimulus money injected into the world economy will not result in inflation, I can say first-hand and unequivocally that, as far as electronics production goes, the supply chain cannot ramp production capability at a rate commensurate with the increased demand resulting from the stimulus. Prices of raw material are going up across the board. Maybe economists can’t call this phenomenon inflation because it’s not immediately impacting the shelf price of finished goods, but most electronics aren’t pure commodities like oil (for which prices at the pump will rise within hours of a supply-chain incident). Whatever you call it, it’s definitely causing immediate difficulties for small players like us.”

- https://www.crowdsupply.com/sutajio...pre-boot-testing-certification-and-time-lines
Click to expand...
Well, if this happens already because of crypto-miners, this is not the result of the stimulus.

I'd be more willing to blame crypto-miners and regulate them rather than blame the people who've been hit by the epidemic and the restrictions and need that stimulus money to go on with their lives.
I found Cory Doctorow's take on stimulus-related inflation to be pretty interesting.
 
Linux-SWAT said:
tech.slashdot.org

Jaguar Land Rover To Suspend Output Due To Chip Shortage - Slashdot

Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) is shutting its two main car factories temporarily due to a shortage of computer chips. From a report: The difficulties at Britain's biggest carmaker echo similar problems at other manufacturers, including Ford, who have been hit by a global shortage of chips. JLR said...
tech.slashdot.org
Click to expand...
I’d heard about that a day or two ago but, whilst I haven’t read any actual article on it, and whilst anyone who’s read this thread will understand that the GCS has caused automakers to pause production at sites around the World, if there are automakers suspending production only at their UK plants (but not others) then you can be sure that that’s actually because of Brexshit...
 
Around ten years ago JLR were making most of their money by shipping Range Rovers out to China, and I wouldn't expect that to be affected by brexshit. But that was ten years ago and from what I hear many of the big chinese cities are going more and more electric and I'm not sure the I-Pace is a big seller over there. They have a lot more competitiion from BYD and others these days too.
 
levi said:
Around ten years ago JLR were making most of their money by shipping Range Rovers out to China, and I wouldn't expect that to be affected by brexshit. But that was ten years ago and from what I hear many of the big chinese cities are going more and more electric and I'm not sure the I-Pace is a big seller over there. They have a lot more competitiion from BYD and others these days too.
Click to expand...
10 years ago JLR hadn’t moved a significant amount of production to Slovakia...
 
Due to these issues the EU is looking into having more semiconductor fabs in Europe, possibly in the region of Germany.
I think that this would be a good idea, as the EU is depending on either US or Asia for these products.

Obviously this doesn't help with the current problems, but it might help in the future.
 
That'd be a good idea. Why Germany though? I think that might be a nice boost to a country's economy and there are other countries in the EU, which would need one more than us.
 
I don't know why they want to be in the region of Germany. Possibly because of Global Foundries having some infrastructure available in that area already, which would make it easier for a second fab from a different vendor. Or maybe just lobbyist in the EU wanting it there.
This region was mentioned by Pat Gelsinger (Intel) in an interview with Thierry Bretton (EU).

Related articles:
www.reuters.com

EU explores chipmaker alliance as alternative to foreign-funded megafab - sources

The European Union is considering creating a semiconductor alliance including STMicroelectronics, NXP, Infineon and ASML to cut dependence on foreign chipmakers amid a global supply chain crunch, four EU officials said.
www.reuters.com www.reuters.com
 
In other fun chip-making news, Taiwan is trying to keep chip-making talent from leaving Taiwan for China. I think some economist once said, "When chip-making talent doesn't cross borders, soldiers will."

 
Just like the EU, China tries to not depend on Taiwan. And if the US bans sales to certain Chinese companies I could imagine they need to do something.
Trying to get Taiwan’s engineers by offering to double their salary is the nicest way I would think. That’s how Apple/Google/etc also got some engineers it if I remember correctly.
 
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