Can’t Buy a PS5 or Xbox Series X? Biden Now Investigating Cause
posted by Jacqueline Leibman | April 5, 2022 | In NewsIf you are part of the lucky 12 million people who has purchased an Xbox Series X/S console or 17.3 million people who have bought a PlayStation 5, then this article is not for you. However, you might be interested to know that the shortage of gaming consoles has gained President Biden’s attention after pleas from Sony, Apple, and other market leaders.
As reported by Reuters on February 24, President Biden is seeking $37 billion in funding for “legislation to supercharge chip manufacturing in the United States.” The “chip” being mentioned is a semiconductor used in various electronic devices—including gaming consoles, cell phones, and cars—which is a vital component allowing functionality in these devices.
As we can recall, the existence of COVID-19 was reported by the CDC in January of 2020, and officially declared a pandemic in March of the same year. In May of 2020, Sony—the company that manufactures the PlayStation consoles—told the BBC that they were confident that the pandemic would not change their PS5 release date.
While the date might not have changed, after both consoles launched in November of 2020, it was reported by April 2021, that the devices were already going “weeks without being seen in stock online or on store shelves.” If you’ve tried searching for the products lately, nothing seems to have changed.
The root cause of the shortage: the previously mentioned chip. However, the problem is not just a U.S. issue, but rather a global semiconductor shortage.
According to CNBC, 64% of semiconductors are made by Taiwanese companies, 54% of which is produced by the world’s largest foundry: the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. or TSMC. South Korea accounts for 18%, while China produces only 6%.
Troubles started for Taiwan and TSMC, when the average order-to-delivery times for chips reached 15 weeks, an unprecedented number, according to TIME. The economic decline prompted by the pandemic caused carmakers and other companies to cut chip orders, which then turned into an overwhelming number of orders as “chips were hoarded by firms that feared being embroiled in the U.S.-China trade and technology war,” according to TIME.
The result: more chips being sent to factories than leaving as products. Mark Liu, TSMC chairman, told TIME that “there are people definitely accumulating chips who-knows-where in the supply chain.”
The supply chain and U.S. reliance on foreign manufacturing has been the bane to both consumers and manufacturers—though the latter is greatly feeling the effects, as exacerbated by the pandemic.
According to Reuters, Biden has been under pressure from GOP lawmakers to create an effort to protect American supply chains from China—and abroad—by “investing in domestic manufacturing of next-generation semiconductor chips.”
Reuters reported that Congressman Michael McCaul (R-Texas) urged the Biden administration to “prioritize protecting emerging and critical technologies, like semiconductors, from the grasp of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party).”
As reported by FOX Business last year, the Biden administration was assessing the possibility of opening as many as 8 semiconductor ship factories in the U.S. within 18 months of when the Innovation and Competition Act became law. The $52 billion act was passed in June of 2021, and it has yet to be reported if any of the factories have opened, or even been built.
The electronic manufacturer, Toshiba, told Bloomberg that “the supply of chips will remain very tight until at least September” 2022 with “some customers not being fully served until 2023.”
It appears that the Xbox Series X/S and PS5 shortage will continue in the near—and possibly distant—future. To help protect consumers from scalpers, Sony has introduced a lottery-style purchasing, where consumers can register online in the hopes of having “an opportunity to purchase a PS5.” Microsoft has yet to address the scalping issue, however, restocks for the Xbox Series X have appeared more frequently than the PS5.
If you would like to try out the Xbox Series X console, the FSU Esports game lab has two available with controllers and games that can be checked out for in lab use. The Esports Program Director Dr. Todd Frobish, said that the consoles were “donated to us by one of the organizations we work with during tournaments.” The team has yet to acquire a PS5.
The game lab, located in Rosenthal 204, is open Monday to Friday from 9am to 5pm. Those interested in joining the Esports team, can introduce themselves on the team’s Discord community, or contact the Student Director Ulysses Crawford.
Photo courtesy of Lyncconf Games.
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