Worldwide Chip Shortage – Information & Advice from GHM

The global crisis causing a shortage of chips continues. In this blog, GHM pragmatically discusses how and why it’s happened and how we are managing your projects to ensure we continue to meet customers’ expectations.

What has caused the crisis?

It’s a combination of events. The snowball effect of the Covid-19 pandemic is the primary reason, but additional factors are rising prices of raw materials, a shortage of containers for shipping and China-US trade.

What are the effects of the shortage?

You know it’s serious when the likes of Apple are slashing production due to a lack of components. Along with technology companies, car manufacturers have been one of the worst affected. The pandemic has also seen an increased demand for cloud computing, leading to further shortages.

More specifically for GHM customers, we are seeing longer waiting times for hardware, WiFi Access Points and Switches.

When will the issue be resolved?

We are likely going to have to live with this well into next year. The shortage should end by 2023, as demand slows down in 6 to 12 months.

How are GHM managing projects?

At GHM, we are planning projects and provisions well in advance. Unfortunately there are no short-term solutions however and so we do recommend planning ahead as far as possible if you can. By doing this, we can ensure the necessary hardware is with us in time or liaise with customers ahead of any projects should any delays occur.

For further information on planning your project, contact us on 01865 367111.