While Nvidia and AMD are the two heavyweights of the graphics card world, the inclusion of Intel as a third combatant in the ring will open up more options for PC enthusiasts and gamers looking for visual hardware. With the CPU company announcing its Arc range of products a couple of months ago, there may be some question as to how the tech giant will be able to make any headway in a world that is still experiencing shortages. With that, Intel's CEO, Pat Gelsinger, recently spoke about how long he thinks the deficit is going to last for.
According to a report, shares in Intel fell more than 8% last Thursday, with Gelsinger believing that this is likely due to the ongoing component shortages that have been ravaging the tech world for about a year now. He went on to say that there is still a lot of PC demand at the moment, and while each quarter next year will see improvements, the shortage of semiconductors will continue until 2023. Gelsinger believes that the industry is currently "in the worst of it now" and seems optimistic, despite the drop in shares, that things will get better as the company moves into 2022.
Gelsinger's words echo other executives who have had their own thing to say on the subject. Lisa Su, AMD's president believes the shortages will continue through most of 2022. Nvidia's CEO, Jensen Huang, also feels the situation is dire enough that supply issues will not see a significant improvement until 2023. In any case, it seems as though the industry's top insiders are in agreement that the components will be hard to come by for perhaps another year.
As anyone who has tried to get hold of a new graphics card will know, securing hardware has been difficult, if not nearly impossible, since the end of 2020. Places that do manage to sell them often do so at massively hiked prices. Much of the deficit has been blamed on the pandemic, which, in the initial stages, left many people at home on furlough who perhaps found more time for gaming. However, a lot of the blame rests on cryptomining companies bulk-buying GPUs and leaving very little for regular consumers.
Although the report does not mention Intel's upcoming graphics card, the first from the company's new range is set to be released next year. With Gelsinger really wanting the Arc "Alchemist" to put pressure on the competition, it's hard to say how it will stack up with AMD or Nvidia's most powerful products. It also remains to be seen how Intel will deal with the ongoing crisis.
Source: CNBC