A rare sight: the Playstation 5 is on the shelf in an electronics store.
(Photo: Reuters)
Tokyo If you want a Playstation 5, you have to travel to Gaza, the British daily Guardian advises its video game fans. The popular Sony game console is still available in the Palestinian Territories. In the United States, newspapers offer tips on how to get the device through retail chain membership programs.
When the manufacturer’s own German Playstation online shop started a sales campaign at the beginning of December, the game console was sold out after just half an hour.
The global shortage of computer chips and electronic components is holding back the latest generation of consoles. For the second Christmas in a row, the Playstation 5 (PS5) will only be under the very few trees, since its release in November 2020 the console has been permanently sold out.
In November, Sony had to lower its production target for the current financial year 2021/22 (by the end of March) from 16 to 15 million Playstations.
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But even the reduced sales target of 14.8 million devices by the end of March can hardly be met, warns Yasuo Nakane, an analyst at the Japanese securities firm Mizuho Securities. An end to the high-tech shortage economy in Japan is not to be expected for the time being – far beyond the PS5 and Sony.
Photo and video fans also suffer from the lack of chips
In the meantime, the lack of chips is also slowing down the production of popular camera models. Sony Japan first stopped production of older models such as the A7II and A6400 in November. At the beginning of December, the ZV-E10, which was only introduced in July, followed, with which Sony especially wants to reach hobby videographers and Youtubers.
There are also delivery delays with some of the company’s camera models.
(Photo: dpa)
According to Sony Europe, orders are still being accepted in Germany and Switzerland – at least from dealers. In Sony’s own online store, however, the “vlog camera” is not in stock. And even with the 3000 Euro Sony A7IV, there could be delays in delivery, according to Sony.
Sony is not alone in this: the delivery times of the new Nikon Z9 and Canons R3 are still completely open. “It can take more than six months to deliver new orders,” said Canon. With some lenses, too, the waiting times are “longer than usual”.
A Sony spokeswoman in Tokyo has little hope of a quick recovery: “Although the situation is different for each component, we assume that the shortage of semiconductors will continue during the 2022 financial year.”
In just-in-time production with almost no own warehousing, disruptions in the supply chain quickly lead to production stoppages. Like many other industrial groups, Sony is now relying on “strategic warehousing”: When parts are available in large numbers, the company orders more than it needs to cushion subsequent bottlenecks.
In addition, the company is focusing on increasing the standardization of parts in the short term so that they can be obtained from more sources. An inevitable departure from one’s own production philosophy.
Security of supply is only available for a lot of money
In the long term, with the help of the Japanese government, the group is strengthening its supply of image sensors for digital and smartphone cameras, in which Sony is the world market leader. With high subsidies, the Japanese government has lured the largest contract manufacturer of computer chips TSMC to Japan. The chip factory will cost seven billion dollars.
It is the first time that the Japanese government has sponsored the construction of a chip factory. Sony is no longer just a customer of TSMC: The electronics company has also invested around $ 500 million in the plant. This could also be a model for Europe and the US to strengthen their local chip industries. But the Christmas business 2021 can no longer be saved with this either.
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