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I don’t think it would have been without the pandemic, mostly because remote work and education has dramatically increased demand for PCs. There is not a ton of
by xadhominemx 5y ago
I don’t think it would have been without the pandemic, mostly because remote work and education has dramatically increased demand for PCs. There is not a ton of excess capacity especially at the wafer fab level, so PCs running 25% higher than expected was enough to push the industry into shortage. There still would have been a cycle (driven by inventory stocking / restocking), but the shortage would not have been nearly as acute.
- bserge 5y agoFunny enough I believe it's not even the real consumer/end user demand. It's just companies anticipating or seeing the same thing (an increase in consumer PC demand) and all releasing their own shitbox/AIO/desktop/laptop. I bet most of them are sitting in warehouses unsold.
- tsywke44 5y agoNope, not just PCs, just electronics in general. The pandemic allowed tens of millions of well-off western office workers to move out of tiny urban flats into more spacious housing. While having to spend a lot of time in their new homes, which was previously in ”public” places (eg restaurants, bars, what have you) Now, what to do with all that space? A giant tv, washer and dryer, a nice stereo set, new induction stove, the list goes on and on… PC demand also increased obviously, but probably bitcoin miners caused the most demand for PC hardware components
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- chx 5y agoThe automotive industry scaling back and cancelling orders in the beginning of the pandemic and then being shocked when their orders came back, increased even and the chip manufacturers couldn't just step up was a serious factor too.
- xadhominemx 5y agoThat definitely made the inventory cycle more extreme