Are you a PS4 owner looking forward to upgrading? Perhaps you want to get a PS5 but can’t get your hands on it because the market is messed up. The high demand for electronics has created a significant impact on semiconductors. The global pandemic also has a role to play in this shortage. The decrease can be linked to people buying more personal computers and other electronic devices during the lockdown. From personal to professional use, the reasons could be plenty and they vary from one person to another.
The shortage of semiconductors has caused a downfall in producing electronic devices. The PlayStation 5 and even high-tech vehicles such as advanced cars are among these items. One reason is the high demand due to remote work and education requirements in the global pandemic. The second reason is the trade conflict with China, which has also caused supply hindrance. We can expect the supply to improve only when production is resumed and the price of bitcoin may also come down.
Let’s explore how these reasons are connected.
The impact of COVID-19 on the electronics sector
The coronavirus crisis harmed many global industries. However, the electronics sector continued to thrive more than ever. From the end of 2019 till date, we cannot neglect the cause and effect of the pandemic.
With on and off long lockdown situations worldwide, many companies asked their employees to work remotely. The same could also be said for schools and the organization of online classes. However, working on assignments is typically difficult from a smartphone, and many students, particularly the arts and media, bought PCs and additional equipment.
Thus, although smartphones could be sufficient to get the work done, they aren’t the most efficient way. In addition, the drastic change in education and work lifestyle caused the demand to rise and the supply to drop eventually. But the pandemic isn’t the only reason; some policies have a say in it too.
Cyberwarfare and the semiconductor shortage
Another cause is the conflict between China and the United States. The Biden administration enforced new trade policies, which implemented some limitations. As a result, Intel had to stop its chip production in China. In addition, although during the Barack Obama regime, an agreement was made for both the countries to never engage in cyberwarfare, there have been crimes regarding intellectual property theft online. And the cyberwarfare between the two nations seems to be ongoing for the last couple of years, despite the agreement.
For a very long time, chip production has been outsourced from China. And the above incidents have only halted the supply chain from there. Ultimately, it means that the demand has outweighed the supply.
Why did graphic card prices explode, and when can we expect it to end?
We have also witnessed an explosion of prices for graphic cards, due to which the gaming world may have a setback by five years. Although we have seen Nintendo develop the best possible graphics for their OLED Switch model, there is an overall global shortage problem. The main concern is the imbalance between supply and demand.
Firstly, one of the graphics cards that have been in the highest demand for a while is the RTX 30XX series. Secondly, the cost of graphic cards has also been on the rise due to cryptocurrency. The rate of bitcoin has crossed 45,000 dollars which is an all-time high. It has led to the price of almost all graphic cards going up. Thirdly, due to the ending of exclusion policies on Chinese tariffs by the Trump government, prices of multiple PC components are rising, including GPUs. Suppliers are doing their best to turn around the situation. However, it can only happen when the market improves.
And we can’t say when exactly the supply will come back to normal. However, we may expect some changes in the gaming world, and that is if the use of cloud computing comes into play.
Playing entirely from the cloud is already possible today, but it may take some more time for this technology to be fully developed to a point where you don’t notice any difference. It would help a lot since gamers spend many dollars just on buying and upgrading accessories, which includes semiconductor chips and graphic cards too. However, remember that even playing games from the cloud would require a strong server and network connection.
The good news for gamers is that you can play almost all titles on a 20-series GPU. So instead of waiting to get new and advanced graphic cards.
Conclusion
So overall, gamers must be prepared to maintain their gaming accessories for a longer time. The semi-conductors and graphic cards are scarce due to various policies and production shortages. In addition, the pandemic is prevalent in many places around the globe, resulting in a greater need for equipment to work from home.
Also, GPUs will only be available once the market settles down. And the increasing price of bitcoin also has a role to play here. The technology for high-tech cloud gaming is possible but still not perfect. If you already have a PS5, you’re good to go as it is the best you can have right now. Otherwise, it’s best to take care of the gaming console you already have and wait for the market to go back to normal.