The PCB, the key component of all computer hardware, is also experiencing production difficulties. Thanks to artificial intelligence!
There's a saying that goes " the shortest jokes are the best ". Clearly, the joke about computer component shortages is the worst of all, and... it doesn't seem to be going away any time soon. In the worst days of the Covid-19 epidemic, many components were in short supply due to an incredible increase in demand linked to the proliferation of teleworking. For six months now, we've been experiencing at least as remarkable an inflation in DRAM and NAND, this time linked to an explosion in demand to satisfy the needs of artificial intelligence. Gigantic contracts awarded by major companies in the sector are swallowing up all production.
Today, we learn that the problem is affecting a sector that, until now, has always been spared: there is always a shortage of other components before PCB production is in trouble. PCBs, or Printed Circuit Boards, are the plates on which components are mounted. Made up of multiple layers of copper known as CCL(Copper Clad Laminate), the PCB is etched so that tracks are marked - they are there so that the chips can communicate with each other - before being covered with a protective layer.
A Nitto Boseki factory in Japan © Nitto Boseki
To manufacture these different layers, copper is of course essential, but so is T-type glass fiber. This essential component is produced by just a few companies worldwide, the main one being Japan's Nitto Boseki. According to the DigiTimes website, Nitto Boseki - but other manufacturers too - is simply unable to meet demand. Until now, the contracts it signed with its customers were for deliveries "up to three or four weeks". These are now a thing of the past, and we're now talking about "up to six months", with the introduction of quotas to distribute production among our countless customers.
Inevitably, if PCB production is not sufficient to meet demand, manufacturers of motherboards or graphics cards, for example, will have to be patient, and their production will have to slow down... when it was already insufficient! In other words, the situation for computer components is not about to improve. As for PCBs, DigiTimes reports that Nitto Boseki has begun work to increase production, but this will not take effect until early next year.
