Intel’s CEO has warned that the global shortage of semiconductors will now likely last until 2024.
Pat Gelsinger had previously told CNBC that he expected the problem – which has caused production problems and a lack of PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and graphics cards – not to end until 2023.
However, in a new interview with CNBC’s Data Check, Gelsinger has updated its prediction and now expects the chip shortage to last into 2024.
According to Gelsinger, the shortage is likely to continue because key production tools are not as readily available as hoped, which means that not enough chips are being made to supply demand.
“That’s part of the reason we think the overall semiconductor shortage will now slide into 2024, from our previous estimates in 2023, just because the shortage has now hit equipment and some of these factory ramps will be more challenging. , “he explained.
In October 2021, Gelsinger predicted: “We are at our worst now, every quarter next year we will be progressively better, but they will not have a balance between supply and demand before 2023.”
This was at odds with comments from AMD’s CEO Lisa Su, who at the time had said she expected the second half of 2022 to see supply increase.
Console manufacturers have been struggling with inventory shortages for more than two years now, after the COVID-19 pandemic closed essential supply chains and saw demand for gaming devices increase significantly as countries implemented social distancing measures.
In September, Xbox CEO Phil Spencer said console supply issues will continue into 2022.
Spencer told The Wrap that the lack of chips was not the only thing preventing Microsoft from getting as many Xbox Series X / S consoles on store shelves as they would like.
“I think it’s probably too isolated to talk about it as just a chip problem,” he said. “When I think about what it means to have the necessary parts to build a console today, and then get it to the markets where the demand is, then there are several kinds of squeezing points in that process.
“And I think unfortunately it’s going to be with us for months and months, definitely until the end of this calendar year and into the next calendar year.”