PS5 and Xbox Series X component shortages may last until 2022, according to chip manufacturer


While the PS5 and Xbox Series X first released almost four months ago, there are still plenty of prospective owners unable to buy a next-gen console.

Competing with both each other and scalpers, gamers face lengthy wait times in online queues or lottery draws to be in with a chance of buying a PS5 or Series X.

It appears this is only the beginning, following comments from one Taiwanese manufacturer.

Semiconductor chip shortages to last until mid-2022

As reported by Bloomberg, the Taiwanese company Innolux warned analysts in an earnings call that the chip shortages may continue throughout 2021 and into 2022.

"Supply at foundries is very tight," said James Yang, the president of Innolux. "Capacity in the chip packaging and testing space is also tight."

Yang also commented: "The chip supply bottleneck could still remain unresolved in the first half of 2022."

Yang's comments come after other chip manufacturers have tempered expectations about component supply in 2021. AMD previously said it expected its chip shortages to last until the latter half of 2021.

READ MORE: No, the PS5 is not being used for cryptocurrency mining

How does this affect next-gen consoles?

The PS5 and Xbox Series X are among a huge number of products reliant upon semiconductor chips. This group includes other gaming hardware such as NVIDIA's RTX 30 Series of GPUs, alongside mobile phones and cars, for example.

With prolonged semiconductor shortages, Sony and Microsoft will face further competition from other companies for these components. Without wanting to pay even higher prices and sell their consoles at a more significant loss, it's likely that the demand for these consoles will outweigh the supply.

In other words, you'll need to keep following those stock tracker Twitter accounts like @GfinityDeals if you want to buy a new console anytime soon.

READ MORE: AMD reveals Radeon RX 6700 XT graphics card, targets 1440p

For more articles like this, take a look at our News and Next-Gen page.