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Hardware

Micron Explains Reason For DDR5 Shortage (hothardware.com) 46

Posted by BeauHD from the supply-and-demand dept.
An anonymous reader quotes a report from HotHardware: During a recent earnings call to discuss its quarterly earnings, Micron explained that the reason DDR5 demand is "significantly exceeding supply" is because suppliers are having a rough time sourcing non-memory components. The insinuation is that Micron can make enough DDR5 chips to satisfy demand, it's just that the other parts that comprise a memory module are not as readily available. The good news is, this should ease a bit next year.

"Across the PC industry, demand for DDR5 products is significantly exceeding supply due to non-memory component shortages impacting memory suppliers' ability to build DDR5 modules. We expect these shortages to moderate through 2022, enabling bit shipments of DDR5 to grow to meaningful levels in the second half of calendar 2022," Micron CEO and president Sanjay Mehrotra said during the call. Micron did not get into specifics about the components that are in short supply, but it likely means power management ICs (PMICs), voltage regulating modules (VRMs), and possibly even printed circuit boards (PCBs) that are strained right now. It's those first two parts that are the most likely culprits, though. DDR5 employs both components rather than continue to have the motherboard handle those chores, and it will take some time for the industry to adjust.
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Micron Explains Reason For DDR5 Shortage More

Micron Explains Reason For DDR5 Shortage

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  • Complex products, complex supply chain (Score:4, Insightful)

    by markdavis ( 642305 ) on Thursday December 23, 2021 @08:49AM (#62109053)

    That is the problem with any complex product creation within a complex supply chain. All it takes is just ONE part to be unavailable and the whole thing grinds to a halt. It then multiplies exponentially across all of manufacturing. It is all much more fragile than anyone would expect or like. So it is amazing how quickly and easily modern society can "unravel"- perhaps this needs to be considered much more carefully by those wanting to impose "restrictions" on things from above. Sometimes what you think you are avoiding with such control can cause massive collateral damage and suffering.

    • Indeed and the problem is that complex products require complex supply chains mostly.

      Trying to make every part in one company is extremely expensive and hard to get the expertise. Thus as products have gotten more complex so have the supply lines.

      • This summary made me wonder, why aren't the components on the motherboard if they can be universally applied to all memory types that motherboard can supply? For one, perhaps multiple modules can use the capacity of one PMIC or VRM? Secondly, if you upgrade memory and throw away the old modules, these components are also not used. Having them on the motherboard makes more sense to me....

        Then again, maybe not. Maybe there are more unused memory slots on motherboards than unused memory modules produced?

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Agripa ( 139780 )

          This summary made me wonder, why aren't the components on the motherboard if they can be universally applied to all memory types that motherboard can supply? For one, perhaps multiple modules can use the capacity of one PMIC or VRM? Secondly, if you upgrade memory and throw away the old modules, these components are also not used. Having them on the motherboard makes more sense to me....

          Then again, maybe not. Maybe there are more unused memory slots on motherboards than unused memory modules produced?

          There are many reasons. It would require more pins for force and sense, load regulation would be poorer, a regulator on the motherboard would have to be built for the worst case requirements.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Idimon ( 9160527 )
      We will be fine with DDR4 until they get this worked out. Thanks for you concern though.

      • >"We will be fine with DDR4 until they get this worked out. Thanks for you concern though."

        Obviously the principles of what I was saying goes far beyond DDR5. We will be fine with no cars? Phones? Refrigerators? Medical equipment? Vaccine-creating equipment? Food? Or perhaps 1,000,000 other products? And for how long? And how does that ripple through services being provided that depend on such products?

        • "No" cars, phones, medical equipment etc...? That isn't what's happening.

          If you're talking about how frighteningly easy it would be for us to bomb ourselves back to the stone age in a major war, and how long it would take to work our way back, that I agree with.

          • >"No" cars, phones, medical equipment etc...? That isn't what's happening. "

            Yes it is. We are having a very hard time buying products and parts at work. It is leading to breakdown of some services and even existing equipment. I wouldn't say it is to some extreme level right now, but the potential is there.

            Cars are a great example, I personally know a few people trying to get a car, and what they want isn't even being made right now (or for months). It could be many more months before that supply is r

            • I understand that demand is outstripping supply, and decreased supply is part of why. But if you look at the number of cars sold per year in the US, no, it's not cratering to zero or anything like that.

              https://hedgescompany.com/wp-c... [hedgescompany.com]

              Actually the hit from the great recession in 2009 caused a drop more than twice as large in number of cars sold

              https://www.statista.com/stati... [statista.com]

            • Not just cars. One of our customers needs 10 trucks for expanding the business. None of the usual manufacturers (MAN, Mercedes, Scania) has slots available until 2023.

    • [snip]So it is amazing how quickly and easily modern society can "unravel"- perhaps this needs to be considered much more carefully by those wanting to impose "restrictions" on things from above. Sometimes what you think you are avoiding with such control can cause massive collateral damage and suffering.

      Hmmm. The supply chain would be much more timely and less of a cost burden if truck drivers didn't have speed restrictions "imposed from above" on public highways. Ditto fabs, if they didn't have all those worker safety and health restrictions "imposed from above." Nothing is more important than protecting profits, certainly not public safety. Good on you, sir.

      • >"Hmmm. The supply chain would be much more timely and less of a cost burden if truck drivers didn't have speed restrictions "imposed from above" on public highways. Ditto fabs, if they didn't have all those worker safety and health restrictions "imposed from above." Nothing is more important than protecting profits, certainly not public safety. Good on you, sir."

        You are conflating what I said to mean support of total anarchy with no rules or regulations at all. There is a big difference between having

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by tsqr ( 808554 )

        I don't think he was talking about public safety or employee rights regulations. More likely trade wars, tariffs, embargoes, and the like.

        Addressing your specific examples: The problem isn't delivery; it's supply. Empty trucks traveling at 100mph don't help. And US and European labor laws don't have much impact on fabs in Taiwan and Korea. Nice strawman, though. Good on you.

      • Comment removed based on user account deletion

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Agripa ( 139780 )

        Hmmm. The supply chain would be much more timely and less of a cost burden if truck drivers didn't have speed restrictions "imposed from above" on public highways. Ditto fabs, if they didn't have all those worker safety and health restrictions "imposed from above." Nothing is more important than protecting profits, certainly not public safety. Good on you, sir.

        It would also have helped if the states did not shut down the driving schools and the state license offices. California forbidding contract truckers with their anti-Uber law had something to do with it also.

    • Also the trend over the last several decades is just-in-time model where no one carries a large inventory. The predominant reason for that is unsold inventory appears on the books and the need to appease investors outweighs common sense sometimes.
    • What "restrictions" from high above would you remove? If your supplier does not have parts for your company to make your product, what can you do? Go to a competitor? Sure but they don't have parts either. Also part of the shortage is the time aspect. In some cases, your company is going to get the part but not right now when you need them. You could air freight them at a much higher cost which affects the profitability/feasibility.

      • >"What "restrictions" from high above would you remove?"

        Governments "closing" mass numbers private businesses.

        • And what the hell does that mean in the current shortage? In the current shortage, Micron's suppliers cannot supply them with enough parts.

          • >"And what the hell does that mean in the current shortage? In the current shortage, Micron's suppliers cannot supply them with enough parts."

            Shutdowns caused the disruptions of the supply chain the first place. It also caused a massive shift in different demands both before and after. The shortage Micron is having didn't just suddenly appear for no reason.

            • Please cite the exact cases where the government actually shutdown those private businesses and not when those private businesses out of an abundance of caution shut themselves down. I’ll wait.

              • >"Please cite the exact cases where the government actually shutdown those private businesses and not when those private businesses out of an abundance of caution shut themselves down. Iâ(TM)ll wait."

                You must be kidding. Do your own research.
                It isn't hard to find mandates by governors shutting down all kinds of so-called "non-essential" businesses with "stay at home" orders.

                • So let me understand you: When the government shut down ALL businesses as well as government offices during a pandemic, you objected to that because it affects "private business". Business over health. Business over safety. That is your objection? This is the person that you are?
  • The word insinuation is in there, and its use remains unexplained.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by tsqr ( 808554 )

      I noticed that too. Nothing was insinuated; it was explicitly explained. Crappy writing and sloppy editing, and this time it's not even the fault of the Slashdot editor, though he could have done better by actually writing a summary that wasn't just a quote ripped from TFA.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Junta ( 36770 )

        They didn't explicitly say "We could ship the parts *today* if we just had the non-memory components", they said they were restricted today by non-memory shortage issues, but hypothetically they could also be constrained by some unstated factor(s), but they would be able to ship by the time the supply issues were fixed. So in theory they could have an internal issue but they think it wouldn't matter anyway because supply is constrained.

        Since that scenario is within the scope of the language, it's correct to

  • All sorts of parts are in short supply (Score:5, Informative)

    by pz ( 113803 ) on Thursday December 23, 2021 @09:40AM (#62109207) Journal

    As part of my job, I design and build small, custom circuits to perform dedicated tasks. Over the last two months, I've been having a difficult time getting even basic chips and components, even things like 0.1uF 50V capacitors. Not every part is hard to get, but often, the ones I would prefer to use, either for their physical size or particular specifications like voltage ratings or tolerances, are not available, with estimated deliveries in mid-2022. I've even seen estimated deliveries for some components in 2023. In one case, a high-side switch (a chip that's works like a relay, at least for DC voltages) that I like to use was hard to find. No one seemed to have stock, and I was despairing about re-designing the circuit or re-laying out the PCB to use an alternative. Early Thanksgiving morning, I searched again, and it looked like Digi-Key had received 12,000 of them. Since I only needed about a dozen, I relaxed, had a nice day with my family, and then that evening set to ordering them. They were gone. On Thanksgiving! I've never, ever seen anything like this before. Want a precision resistor? Better hope it's a common value. Want a slightly odd specification capacitor? Think again. Want a chip that's used in the automotive industry? None for you.

    What relevance does this have to DDR5 memory sticks? Those modules are printed circuit boards with memory chips, capacitors, resistor termination arrays, and lots of other small components on them. While the memory chips might be available, it's entirely possible the other parts are tough to source, as that's been my experience, and you need all of the parts to fully assemble a module.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Tablizer ( 95088 )

      I suspect hording exacerbates the problem. When components key to a product line are hard to get, orgs buy way more than they currently need to avoid waiting again down the road.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by MrL0G1C ( 867445 )

        Quite possible, when most of industry works on a just-in-time stocking basis and then some of industry decides to then stock up after a couple of stocking hiccups it's no surprise that stocks run out.

        I think once recent change is that many phones now want the latest greatest chips and cost over $1000 and more fools think they need to buy these and even buy a new one every year. A grotesque level of consumerism. Cars also are needing far more sophisticated silicon to run various levels of self-driving.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Agripa ( 139780 )

        I suspect hording exacerbates the problem. When components key to a product line are hard to get, orgs buy way more than they currently need to avoid waiting again down the road.

        Along for everything else, there are also scalpers for electronic parts.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by pz ( 113803 )

      Following up on my own post --- Recently, I've found that if you are looking for a component on Mouser or Digi-Key (the two big distributors that will sell at quantities from 1 to 100,000), only 1/3 to 1/2 of the items for a given search are in stock. It's never, ever been that low before that I can recall. My dad was in the same line of work and although he's no longer with us now so I can't ask him directly, I don't recall him ever bemoaning problems obtaining components. The depth of the current short

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by tlhIngan ( 30335 )

      Exactly. The problem is not the "big ticket" parts - the high end CPUs, GPUs, etc, are in plentiful supply. What isn't are the "jellybean" parts. These parts that no one thinks of because they're always available - various resistors, capacitors, transistors, gates, etc. Cheap dinky parts that you expect to always be in stock because well, they're used everywhere in everything. After all, if you need a 1K resistor, you expect to basically be able to choose what size and anyone you call will have billions in

  • That allowing a few countries to corner the market in electronics supply and manufacturer could become a point of failure? Its incredible ,I bet no one saw this coming!

    • yes, and the whole automation play is also kicking in. FABs are becoming more automated so labor costs aren't a deciding factor. Environmental laws and real estate costs may be more of a governing factor to bring back the manufacturing of components out of SE Asia and China.

    • By "allowing" a few countries to corner the market, you are aware that the US and Europe could make RAM if they wanted but opt out because it is such a cutthroat and low margin business, right? Just like the US could make assemble smartphones but does not. But hey what is capitalism?

  • What actually happened what that plans for manufacturing DDR5 had to be rushed because "THEY" weren't expecting someone to find that fatal flaw in DDR4 so quickly [slashdot.org]. "THEY" prefer to operate in the shadows controlling everything from the toothpaste ingredients that sedate you to wild fire causing Jewish space lasers! "THEY" would haven't gotten away with it too if not for you darn meddling teenagers!

    So yeah, Micron was caught off guard and hadn't finished implementing the secret backdoor for DDR5, so things

  • And if so, who cares? My current DDR4 is fast enough. Who cares what gamers think. They don't actually do anything useful.

  • More FABs is good.

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