Last year, smartphone and laptop manufacturers had to spend 25 percent more to get all the chips they needed. Manufacturers increased supply, but that was not enough.
Microchip producers jacked up production in 2021, but demand continued to outpace supply. That’s what Gartner knows. The shortage was felt especially in less sophisticated chips such as power controllers. Such microchips increased in price by about 15 percent as a result.
That, in turn, caused manufacturers to spend more. The combination of the higher purchase price and higher volume accounted for a 25.2 percent increase in semiconductor spending seen over the full year.
Apple dominates
Apple, which builds laptops, tablets and smartphones, bought the most components and ate up 11.7 percent of the market, followed by Samsung with 7.8 percent. Lenovo completes the top three with 4.3 percent. Apple is an outlier as the company did spend less on classic CPUs. That’s because the hardware maker, meanwhile, largely makes them itself.
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Chip shortages push prices for laptop builders up 15 percent
The twisted market situation makes it difficult for small players to get their parts. After all, they face a higher market price, less supply and a battery of big players trying to buy up as many essential chips as possible.