In this brief video commentary, Kevin TobeyOpens a new window , technical sales engineer at Med Tech Solutions, explains why the global chip shortage occurred in the first place, how long is it expected to last, and what can organizations do in the short term to operate at scale despite a lack of availability of PCs, servers, and other critical IT devices.
Key Highlights
- Right-size your cloud server to meet short-term needs 01:40
- Switch to Desktop as a Service or Desktop in a Cloud 03:06
- How about turning your PCs into Thin Clients? 03:38
- Transition your workloads from physical servers and PCs to the cloud 05:10
Read the full transcript of our conversation with Kevin Tobey here:
TOOLBOX: The shortage of semiconductors has disrupted production in industries ranging from medical devices, computers, defense technologies, and in no small part, the U.S. auto industry. There is a huge demand for semiconductors in the consumer electronics industry (e.g., 5G), and for advanced chips for data centers and self-driving cars. President Biden ordered a 100-day review of the semiconductor supply chain in April. Congress also has introduced legislation aimed at reducing U.S. dependence on foreign supply while incentivizing domestic production of semiconductors through a $50 billion infrastructure plan.
Taiwan dominates the semiconductor manufacturing industry with 73% share, compared to just 10% and 7% share of the U.S. and China respectively. TSMC Chairman Mark Liu says the shortage occurred due to uncertainty brought on by the pandemic and manufacturers stockpiling chips.
The question that arises here is — Will U.S. government funding and incentives reverse declining chip manufacturing in the country? Or will the US continue to rely on the likes of Taiwan and South Korea? Let’s hear from Kevin Tobey, Technical Sales Engineer at Med Tech Solutions.
KEVIN TOBEY: We need to shift to the cloud from on-premise hardware to help avoid disruptions caused by the global chip shortages. As we all know, the microchips that we all depend on for our computers and servers during our work daily are in short supply. We have noticed hardware delays and a tough time getting switches, firewalls, PCs, and even servers due to chip constraints.
One thing that we have noticed, this isn’t an issue in the cloud. Servers in the clouds can be right-sized and purchased by the flip of the switch and credit card and you have an instant server ready. The good thing about this aspect is that you can right-size them, for now, other than building them for the future. We always build a server with a future in mind. The beauty of buying a cloud server is if you need more RAM, you add more RAM at that moment in time. With a flip of a button, you can upgrade your machine. You are paying for what you need, not what you are going to need after five years.
In the same way, we have seen a move to desktop as a service or desktop in a cloud. We have been using RDS for years where we have been able to offload desktop workload to an RDS server with the advent of VDI and things such as Azure Virtual Desktop. One of the strategies that you might want to consider is extending the life of your PC fleet.Â
We know Windows 11 is upcoming and that might be a reason to upgrade your machine but have you thought about turning the older PCs into ‘Thin Client’. The Thin Client PCs are much less expensive to support. By removing few parts, fewer pieces, you load a desktop remote app on it. It is now a Thin Client that you can easily connect to a desktop in a cloud.Â
If you have 100s of PCs that need to be upgraded from Windows10 to 11, you can delay that or eliminate it by buying Thin Clients in the future and easily migrate from Windows 10 to 11 by building those workstations in the cloud.
TOOLBOX: Will U.S. government funding and incentives reverse declining chip manufacturing in the country?
KEVIN TOBEY: I don’t think I see so much decline in manufacturing. It is more of a supply and demand issue. Everyone predicted a big economic downturn due to the pandemic. So manufacturers quit ordering chips so there was a dip in production. Then all of a sudden, they took off the brakes and hit the accelerator and couldn’t get chips fast enough, couldn’t get ordering fast enough that generated a huge global demand for chips.Â
So in conclusion, the shortage is the real deal. It is projected to last in 2023 and organizations need to strategize to deal with this. One of the strategies is to look at transitioning your workload from physical servers and PCs to the cloud to get scalability and what you need now and to extend the life of your PC fleet.
Do you think the chip shortage is a result of widely oscillating demand and supply curves accelerated by the pandemic? Tell us on LinkedInOpens a new window , TwitterOpens a new window , or FacebookOpens a new window . We’d love to hear from you!