In an interview with CNBC the day after weaker-than-expected financial results, Pat Gelsinger revised his estimates, explaining that the shortage of semiconductor supplies will remain tight until 2024, despite Intel’s efforts to open new production lines in Europe and Asia.
Last October, Pat Gelsinger had previously expected a return to balance between supply and demand in the course of 2023. Six months later, the observation has therefore gained in pessimism. Accentuated by the health crisis and the strong demand from various industries, but also by logistical disruptions, this shortage of components also affects sectors such as smartphones and cars via washing machines.
In our small environment, the shortage has the effect of randomly redistributing the cards in the console war landscape, the current rule being that whoever manufactures the most is the one who sells the most. Thus, while the PlayStation 5 experienced its first months on the basis of a new speed record (10 million consoles sold in 248 days) and unprecedented demand, circumstances have changed since then without the manufacturer can do a lot to fix it.
Between October 2021 and March 2022, Microsoft confirmed that it had “gained market share” over its direct competitor, confirming some of the observations that could be made thanks to market research institutes like NPD and GFK. Helped in particular by an Xbox Series S that is easier to produce and now widely available (when it is not outright on sale), the Xbox Series has therefore sold better than the PS5 over the last six months, which in the balance of power between PlayStation and Xbox is not unheard of in America but much more unusual in Europe.
Even if an improvement was felt on the side of Sony in April, the Japanese manufacturer is currently the main loser from this lack of stock, especially since its productions like Horizon Forbidden West and Gran Turismo 7 are not yet systematically released on PC, which would have made it possible to reach a wider audience and compensate for the slow growth of its console fleet. Yesterday, the Japanese press also questioned the shortage of components and the logistical disruptions in China to explain the fact that Nintendo plans to produce “only” 20 million Switches for the 6th year of the console. We know of other manufacturers who would largely be satisfied with it.
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