THE CHIPS ARE DOWN

The lasting legacy of the lockdown PC hardware boom

- Phil Iwaniuk

It all feels like an odd dream now. Stepping out onto our doorsteps to bang on our pans every Tuesday evening. Nationwide shortages of baking ingredients. Terrible, self-administered haircuts and vast lines outside supermarkets, shoppers spaced two metres apart and wearing face coverings that you'd previously only seen in news reports about SARS in Asia.

However surreal the events of 2020 might seem now, five years later, the COVID-19 pandemic’s effects were very real. As nations imposed their own lockdown rules of varying stringency, supply chains broke down and waiting lists lengthened exponentially. Zoom in on the PC hardware market, and PCB shortage completely disrupted the market. Lockdown restrictions in China, Taiwan and Korea, where the vast majority of circuit boards are manufactured, left the entire sector without its most crucial component. Worse, there was stiff competition for PCBs from every other sector. Car production stalled. Medical equipment was being made at a slower rate, at a time when we needed it the most.

The very limited numbers of PCB-equipped hardware units that were being made were further disrupted by an unprecedented logistical breakdown, brought about by border closures and export regulations. And not that this cake needed any icing on it, but the surge in demand for all kinds of electronic goods, stimulated by a housebound general population looking to soothe its boredom, provided a final ingredient to the supply chain mess.

FALLOUT 2020