Laptop makers are reportedly again suffering from a shortage of 14nm processors from Intel, just as they were a year ago. The shortages come at an unfavorable time for manufacturers, with the lucrative end-of-year season ahead of us.
Original design manufacturers, or ODMs, are struggling to obtain enough 14nm processors from Intel, writes DigiTimes, which correctly reported last year about the shortages that had already arisen. ODMs such as Quanta, Compal, Wistron and Foxconn produce laptops for manufacturers such as Apple, HP, Dell and Acer. Compal already warned in August that it expected shortages for the second half of 2019. It is not known whether shortages are also expected for desktop processors.
Intel was unable to meet the demand for 14nm processors last year. Due to the postponement of 10nm production, among other things, there was a lot of pressure on 14nm production and demand was also high. The prices of Intel processors rose due to the shortages. Intel then decided to put an extra billion dollars into production.
The 10nm production of the Ice Lake generation of processors for laptops is now getting underway, but the arrival of these chips does not seem to prevent further 14nm shortages. A leaked Intel roadmap from last year also stated that production would be limited. In the second quarter of 2020, Tiger Lake U and Y will follow, which Intel also makes on 10nm and where the company made no mention of limited production on the roadmap. Intel makes the vast majority of its processors at 14nm. Intel wants to start 7nm production in 2021.