A few weeks ago, we started to hear news about a chip shortage for the automotive industry, but the shortage appears to be affecting all sectors now apparently due to a drought in Taiwan where a reservoir could be a risk of being depleted, and TSMC has been asked to reduce its water usage by 7 percent.
I’ve also started to see several companies in the maker market warn about shortages and price increases. Pine64 announced it would only open pre-order for PinePhone, PinebookPro, PineTab, and other products once they could secure stocks of components, and while they hope to be able to do so within this month, there’s no guarantee.
(1/2) [PSA] Re. availability of #PinePhone, #PinebookPro, #PineTab, etc., Due to component shortages, component price-increases & related issues, we will only open orders/pre-orders when production is securely underway. We are more cautious than usual, also for your sake (…) pic.twitter.com/0cJA2dQNpC
— PINE64 (@thepine64) March 11, 2021
Ameridroid also reported that Hardkernel and another unnamed manufacturer expected really large delays possibly into 2022.
Just wanted to give you a heads up that there are severe component shortages happening globally now; this certainly is affecting all SBC manufacturers such as PINE64, ODROID, and also Raspberry Pi. We are trying to navigate this difficulty and minimize the impact.
It looks like this shortage can last a long time, possibly into 2022.
Here’s the quote from ODROID forum:
The H2+ is out of stock temporarily.
But, it is very hard to estimate when we can produce the H2+ next batch due to very serious component shortage problem these days.
Some key components (PMIC, 2.5GbE NIC and audio codec chips) need over 35 weeks lead time even we placed order last October though.
I think we have to wait 4~5 more months at least to sell the H2+ again.
Sorry about this bad situation.
The issue is also discussed on Raspberry Pi forums, and the shortage will impact TV boxes as a manufacturer recently asked me:
Have you heard about the rising price of Android TV box due to the rising price of raw materials recently
That’s a slightly different take though, as they did not mention the drought in Taiwan, and the chip shortage, but instead the increasing price of raw materials.
Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.
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