New report: chip shortages finally easing for PC integrators, but the smartphone market is lagging behind

TrendForce recently published its latest report regarding the effects of the chip shortages on the PC and smartphone markets in the last quarter of 2021 as well as a forecast for the first quarter of 2022, and it looks like the situation could be getting noticeably better this year.

The report notes that essential component shortages for desktops and laptops started to ease up back in November last year, resulting in increasing shipment volumes for PC ODMs during the last quarter of 2021. The only hard to procure component right now remains the PCIe 3.0 SSD controller, while shortages for Type C IC, Wi-Fi and PMIC supplies are “gradually abating.” The current supply squeezes appear to be attributed to delays in the transition to Intel’s Alder Lake platform.

Notebook shipments from ODMs in Q1 2022 are thus expected to take a slight hit by 5.1% as the first quarter is part of the off-season cycle when demand momentum slows down in comparison to the Holiday season. This hit will also be reflected in the harbor congestions that are starting to reappear in the U.S. with the Omicron wave.

As for the smartphone market, TrendForce points out that handheld component shortages have been easing slowly since the second half of 2021, but there still are key supplies that cannot be acquired with ease, including 4G SoCs, OLED DDIC / Touch IC, PMIC and A+G sensors. Due to a “disappointing holiday demand” recorded in the last quarter, smartphone producers now need to adjust finished product distributed inventory levels. This may reduce handheld production by up to 13% in Q1 2022.

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