Mar 15, 2021 11:55:00

Qualcomm reports that it is in short supply of SoC for smartphones

AMD's CPU / GPU supply is in short supply , and NVIDIA is remanufacturing older GPUs to solve the GPU supply shortage, and the supply cannot keep up with the demand for semiconductors. Meanwhile, it is reported that the supply of SoCs for smartphones produced by semiconductor giant Qualcomm is also insufficient, affecting the production of smartphones.

Qualcomm struggles to meet chip demand as shortage spreads to phones: sources | Reuters
https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSKBN2B32OO

Due to the stagnation of logistics due to the epidemic of the new coronavirus infection (COVID-19), labor shortage, and increasing demand for PCs, the supply of semiconductors is in short supply all over the world . Furthermore, due to factors such as the pressure on the semiconductor production line due to the popularity of the 'PlayStation 5 ' and ' Xbox Series X ' that appeared in November 2020 and the lack of water in Taiwan, the world's largest semiconductor foundry ' TSMC ' has a shortage of semiconductor supply. Is getting worse . As a countermeasure against the shortage of semiconductor supply, NVIDIA is in the situation of reproducing the old GPU that is easy to produce.

NVIDIA is planning to reproduce older GPUs such as 'GeForce RTX 2060' and 'GeForce GTX 1050 Ti' to solve the GPU supply shortage --GIGAZINE

Reuters conducted interviews with each smartphone manufacturer amid such a global supply shortage of semiconductors. As a result, it became clear that the shortage of supply of SoCs for smartphones produced by Qualcomm is affecting the production of smartphones.

In December 2020, Qualcomm announced the high-end SoC 'Snapdragon 888 ' for smartphones with a built-in 5G modem. However, Samsung officials told Reuters that 'the supply of Snapdragon 888 is in short supply.' In addition, another Samsung official said, 'The shortage of chips by Qualcomm is affecting the production of middle-end and low-end smartphones.' 'Qualcomm is producing the highly profitable Snapdragon 888. We are sacrificing low-end chip production lines to focus on, 'Reuters speculates.

A senior executive at 'the company responsible for the production of some major smartphone brands' told Reuters, 'We are facing a shortage of the various components that Qualcomm produces, so in 2021. We need to reduce smartphone shipments. ' In addition, Xiaomi's Vice President Lu Weibing posted on social media ' Weibo ' that 'we are facing a' serious shortage 'rather than a' shortage 'of chips,' revealing that the supply shortage is imminent.

Reuters points out that Qualcomm's chip supply shortage is being affected by US government sanctions on Huawei. Reuters argues that U.S. government sanctions have led smartphone makers to forgo Huawei chips and increase the number of cases of Qualcomm chips, which has generated more demand than Qualcomm's supply.

In addition, 'Samsung's semiconductor foundry, which supplies semiconductors to Qualcomm , went out of service on February 16, 2021 due to a major power outage in Texas in February 2021. This is what Qualcomm said. May be affecting the supply shortage, 'Reuters said.