Re: semiconductor issues
Is any of that cost increase due to shipping? I know lots of companies are having issues actually shipping parts around, no space on ships, so switching to air, which cost a lot more, especially for anything heavy etc.
AMD doesn't really have any semiconductor supply issues, at least not for CPUs (GPUs is a different thing!).
All the current CPU cores for AMDs Ryzens (i.e. Desktop, mobile and server CPUs) are all made by TSMC. The last two gens, Zen 2 and Zen 3, being on 7nm, which has been around now for a while, and is quite mature (i.e. high yields etc). This 7nm production space was booked up well in advance of the current issues. AMD started with 7nm with Zen 2 back in mid 2019.
I suspect most of AMDs CPU stock shortages last year were simply down to the increased demand, rather than actual issues making the things (production volumes were actually higher than planned from what I've seen, it's just that demand was far high than anyone had expected, so still outstripped supply).
A quick look at a few retailers (in the UK), and seems all the main Zen 3 desktop parts, 5600X through to 5950X, are all in stock for immediate shipping.
Things might change for Zen 4 due later this year, as that's expected to be on TSMCs 5nm, (same as the latest Apple CPUs etc). As far as I know again AMD have agreed space on 5nm with TSMC some time back, as Zen 4 has been on their road map for a while now, but 5nm is also the leading tech for many mobile chips, including Apple etc, and it's less mature, so high demand but possibly lower yields than 7nm. So I'd expect production of the new Ryzen 6000 range (or whatever it gets called), to be somewhat limited at least initially.
Conversely, try looking for a current nVidia or AMD GPU, and no stock anywhere!
Biting the hand that feeds IT
