One of the primary highlights of 2021 was the acute shortage of semiconductors, including processors, graphics processors, and DRAM chips. AMD’s Ryzen 5000 CPUs as well as the Radeon RX 6000 GPUs were both affected during this dry spell that lasted for more than a year. Shortages along with the cryptocurrency boom resulted in a vastly overinflated market. Both Intel and AMD have worked to avoid a repeat of the same this cycle.
For AMD, the primary bottleneck was not the wafer supply (TSMC N7) but the ABF substrate, one of the key components needed to fab microprocessors. More on the subject below:
ABF shortages have affected not only the PC and server industry but automobile and embedded as well. To tackle this, AMD has invested heavily in its supply chain partners and wafer capacity. As per Senior Vice President Forrest Norrod, substrate shortages still remain an issue. In the client segment consisting of the Ryzen CPUs and Radeon GPUs, the same is expected to be resolved only by the year’s end with the server market getting the same treatment in Q1 2023.
All said and done, we’ve heard that the Ryzen 7000 CPUs will be available in ample supply when they launch later this month. Interestingly, consumer offerings are being prioritized over data center parts this time around which is a first.
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