Biden administration assesses supply chains causing PS5, Xbox and graphics card shortages

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President Joe Biden’s administration has signed an executive order promising to review the supply chain issues that have led to shortages of the PS5, Xbox Series and graphics cards. As reported by NBC News, President Biden is investigating the gaps in US supply chains during the pandemic. The 100-day evaluation will look at vulnerabilities and improvements in supply chains for pharmaceuticals, rare earth minerals, semiconductor chips and large-capacity batteries. It will focus on increasing production in the US and strengthening ties with those who export the affected products.

Biden made it clear that this will not be an immediate solution to shortages, but should help stop similar problems in the future. The shortage of semiconductors has caused major problems for the video game industry in recent months and has been highlighted by many game industry figureheads, including the most recent PlayStation CEO Jim Ryan.

In an interview with GQ published earlier this week, Ryan said that the semiconductor shortage was one of the main problems in PS5 manufacturing – with a shortage of semiconductor chips, it is a pain for automotive, phone, console and PC manufacturers. hardware to operate at full capacity. and their products get into the hands of the consumer. AMD’s chips are driving next-gen consoles as well as CEO Lisa Su who raised similar concerns during the company’s Q4 2020 earnings call, predicting chip shortages will continue in the first half of 2021.

With this executive order, Biden’s administration plans to assess and hopefully address these supply chain issues, with an emphasis on boosting US domestic manufacturing to mitigate these issues in the future. In addition to the shortage of chips, scalpers also cause problems for consumers looking to buy premium graphics cards and next-gen consoles. A possible ban on console scalping is currently gaining traction in the UK in light of recent market issues.

Jordan Oloman is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter.

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