Impact of chip shortage on PC shipments likely to ease in 2022: report

At a time when the global semiconductor shortage has impacted the numbers of multiple industries, a report by TrendForce has asserted that the shipment volume of personal computer ODMs in 4Q21 has been revised upwards as the crisis from the ongoing chip shortage is getting abated. ODMs are Original Design Manufacturers (unlike OEMs) who design and manufacture products that are eventually rebranded by other firms.  

In terms of PCs and laptops, starting from November 2021, material shortages have been partially alleviated, as claimed by TrendForce. The impact of supply of materials had a minimal impact on PCs and notebooks vis-a-vis smartphones, the report said.  

“Except for the SSD (solid-state drive) PCIe 3.0 (Peripheral Component Interconnect Express) controller, current tightness exhibited in component supply is due to delays in the transition of Intel’s new platform. This temporary shortfall has led to a delivery cycle of approximately 8-12 weeks while any tightness in the supply of Type C IC, WiFi, and PMIC (Power management integrated circuits) is gradually abating,” as asserted by TrendForce.  

SSD is a new generation of storage device used in computers and uses flash-based memory, which is much faster than a traditional mechanical hard disk.  

TrendForce anticipated that notebook shipments from ODM brands in the first quarter of 2022 will only decrease by 5.1% quarter on quarter (QoQ) as the overall supply chain stability recovers.    

Talking about future projections, TrendForce foresees that due to the limited increase in production capacity, the market’s supply situation in Q1 2022 is expected to be approximately the same as the Q4 FY2021. “However, some end products have entered their traditional off-season cycle and the slowdown in demand momentum is expected to alleviate the immediate pressure on OEMs and ODMs regarding supply chain stocking,” as per TrendForce.    

However, numerous consumer electronics makers are expecting semiconductor chip shortage to ease up by the second half of 2022 in India. As per industry observers, while several brands have lowered production by up to 30%, some have delayed product rollouts at the same time keeping a close tab on supplies from component vendors.   

While industry has been taking steps to tackle the issue, the government has taken a long-term view of the problem and by announcing a ₹76,000-crore production linkd incentive (PLI) scheme for the semiconductor sector.