AMD May Have Hinted At The Best Time To Purchase PS5, Xbox Series XIS

Next-generation gaming consoles PS5 and Xbox Series X stock shortages could continue until the second half of 2021, according to AMD.

The company is the supplier of both GPU and CPU chips used by Sony and Microsoft for PS5, Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S. During a recent earnings call, AMD CEO Lisa Su was asked to comment on the supply crunch of all three next-gen gaming consoles. The executive said she anticipates "some tightness" in the first six months of the year before things pick up in the second half.

"I think we're getting great support from our manufacturing partners," she said and added, "The industry does need to increase the overall capacity levels and so we do see some tightness through the first half of the year, but there is added capacity in the second half."

The chipmaker faced difficulty developing processors due to the ongoing global health crisis caused by the COVID-19, Su said. She said the ongoing trade war between the United States and China also contributed to the issue. AMD is the company responsible for producing Ryzen 5000 processor, which enables both Xbox Series XIS and PS5 to have graphical features like the ray-tracing technology.

The issues cited by the executive are not the only factors that impact the console shortage. The high demand for new consoles could also be a factor, thanks to the continued and rapid growth of the video industry. Due to the pandemic, most of the next-gen gaming console sales are taking place online.

This has become a problem over the past months because of the presence of scalpers. This group uses bots to purchase all PS5, Xbox Series X and Series S consoles as soon as they go live. They then sell the stocks at an unbelievably premium price. A lot of gamers could not get their hands on the next-generation gaming consoles because of this.

With the demand still high, it looks like players will have to wait until the second half of the year to get their hands on PS5 or Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S.