Local IT experts Bluegrass Group are recommending business owners and managers to plan now what new devices they’ll want later this year – because of a global chip shortage.

Chris Thomas, Joint MD of Bluegrass Group comments ‘Worldwide chip manufacturers have been overwhelmed with the sharp increase in demand due to the rebound in business activity following the lifting of restrictions. This has resulted in shortages of chips expecting to continue well into 2022 and possibly the start of 2023.

So many business essential devices rely on these chips, so planning ahead for your hardware is going to be critical for your business survival.

Many factors have impacted production across the last 12 months. First we had the pandemic forcing businesses to quickly and unexpectedly purchase laptops to accommodate homeworkers. We then have the potential rush of people upgrading to 5G phones coming later in the year. Combine that with two mass manufacturing site disasters; a fire in Japan and a power outage in the US and you’ve got a real output concern.

Also, as political tensions have grown between China and the US over the last few months, Chinese tech companies have been stockpiling chips and chip making equipment.

What is more, chip production is a real fine art and it’s expensive too. So, it’s not like you’ll see new chip manufacturers pop up out of nowhere to plug these gaps.

We’d urge business owners and managers to assess their hardware needs now and put the orders in as early as they can’

Bluegrass Group was formed in 2007 and serves clients in all industries across the South West.

If you’d like to speak to us about your hardware needs, call us on 01392 796 779 or email ask@bluegrass-group.com