How Does The Ongoing Chip Shortage Affect Prospective Windows 11 Users?
An ongoing shortage of semiconductors will affect the viability of Windows 11 migrations — ExcalTech can help. We have a limited inventory of the increasingly hard-to-get hardware required to run the new Windows 11 operating system.
You’ve likely seen the news about the growing shortage of semiconductors, a core component in business and consumer hardware such as computers and smartphones. When the shortage began last year it may not have been a critical issue for you.
However, if you’re now looking into a Windows 11 migration, you’ve likely hit a roadblock: compatible hardware requires these new chips that are in such high demand. ExcalTech may be able to help —we have a limited supply of hardware you may be looking for.
The State Of The PC Industry
The available stock of desktop computers, laptops, and smartphones is already waning in light of the global shortage of semiconductors. This is primarily the result of two key factors:
- Increased Demand: At the start of this year, global semiconductor sales grew by 13.2% since the same time last year, to a total of $40 billion. The global adoption of work-from-home arrangements called for more laptops and smartphones, furthering increasing demand over the past year.
- International Relations: Tensions between the US and China prompted the latter to begin stockpiling valuable resources, including semiconductors.
Together, these factors have made it difficult to acquire new hardware, and it will only become more difficult to do so over the next two years.
Windows 11 And The Chip Shortage
It is important to note there are certain hardware requirements that need to be met in order to run Windows 11. Do your devices meet these requirements?
- Modern CPUs: 2-core (2018 or newer)
- Intel 8th Generation Core
- AMD Ryzen Gen 2 (Zen+)
- Qualcomm 7c, 8c, 8cx
- 4GB Memory
- 64GB Storage
- TPM 1.2 or greater / UEFI Secured Boot
- 64-bit OS only
- >9” with HD Resolution (1280 x 720 (720P) equivalent)
- DirectX 12 API compatible graphics / WDDM 2.0
- Internet connectivity
These requirements may be untenable for many businesses in light of the ongoing hardware shortage. Keep in mind that TSMC plans to hike its prices in line with the limited supply.
Start Your Planning Now
It’s important to think ahead in order to properly address an issue like this. It can be easy to assume that just because your organization has all the hardware it needs right now, that you don’t have to worry about a shortage at the moment.
However, you will require new hardware sooner or later, so it would be wise to “get in line” now as experts advise to expect supply issues to extend well into 2022. Therefore, whoever is in charge of managing your hardware lifecycles should be able to tell you when a replacement is due, and if it’s within the next 12-18 months, the smart move would be to get that order in now, rather than worry about the delay when it becomes truly necessary.
This also likely means not only price increases, but a trend of higher pricing due to the growing demand and potential surge in that demand from those that have failed to properly plan in the past and/or don’t make effective adjustments to their existing plan to adapt to the current state of the market. This will most likely mean some adjustments to your lifecycle plan, as well as some flexibility, so be sure to take that into account, especially when it comes to budget planning.
Need Expert Assistance?
You need to start strategizing now, and ExcalTech will help — we can assess and determine the state of your current hardware, and help you plan ahead for when it will be replaced, mitigating as much of the delay as possible.
Furthermore, we currently have a limited stock of a range of new hardware complete with the chips needed to run Windows 11 systems. We can help you deploy these systems, but supplies won’t last forever.
Get in touch with our team to get started and help ensure your staff members have what they need to do their work.
