Intel Says Chip Shortage Could Last Several Years

Sad news for anyone looking to buy new processors and graphics cards (not you miners) as Intel says that semiconductor shortage could last for several years. Though to be fair, the shortage means that chip giants can ask for more money because there is such a huge demand now with miners and scalpers buying up stock as it comes out.

Intel Corp’s CEO, Pat Gelsinger, delivered the bad news this Monday. The chip shortage is a problem that has halted some production lines and has heavily affected the consumer electronics market. Pat spoke during a virtual session of the Computex Trade show. He said that the work from home trend has put a lot of strain on the chip supply and has led to a “cycle of explosive growth in semiconductors”.

Not to mention, bitcoin miners, that use hundreds of top-of-the-line graphics cards in their mining rigs. While Pat assured that the industry is taking steps to increase supply and production for the chips, he also said that “it could still take a couple of years for the ecosystem to address shortages of foundry capacity, substrates and components”. The only ones winning in this situation are the chip manufacturing companies.

According to a market research firm called TrendForce, the world’s 10 biggest chip manufacturing companies saw their revenues spiking to a record high in the first quarter of 2021. They published their findings on their blog which you can view here. Intel also announced a $20 billion earlier this March to expand its advanced chip manufacturing capacity. They plan on building two factories in Arizona and opening plants to outside customers.

According to Pat, “We plan to expand to other locations in the U.S. and Europe, ensuring a sustainable and secure semiconductor supply chain for the world”. This means that Intel wants to expand their market whilst challenging other two large chip makers, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd and South Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co Ltd.

Both semiconductor giants have been dominating the Asian market where now two-thirds of advanced chips are manufactured.