The global shortage of components and memory that has been dogging the industry for nearly a year now – blamed mainly on high demand for AI and data centre infrastructure – is now really starting to bite.
For those South Africans who don’t realise just how dire the situation is – and yes, G, there are quite a few local end user customers who refuse to face the facts, still demanding rock-bottom and rock-steady pricing and availability – two telling stories from the US should help to enlighten them. Deep Throat uncovered them on TonerNews.com, one of our favourite IT news sites and one we’d highly recommend to anyone in the industry – particularly the printer sector.
TonerNews clearly indicates that the first story is purely rumour, but through the years we have found that nine times out of 10, the website’s rumours usually turn out to be true.
Under the headline: Rumour: Code Red at HP: Production halts amidst unresolved memory crisis? TonerNews’ article continues … “RUMOUR: HP is grappling with a critical memory crisis that has severely impacted its operations. Despite months of awareness and attempts to address the issue, HP’s efforts to reconfigure and reuse memory resources have yielded minimal results, with the situation now at a near standstill.
“The problem, which isn’t financial, has caused production rates to plummet and left the company externally handicapped, unable to meet market demands. Internally, HP is tightening its financial belt, slashing every possible cost to stay afloat, but the underlying memory problem remains unsolved.”
The second article deals with a subject very close to the hearts of South African IT users – pricing.
Under the headline: Lenovo just hit North American partners with price increases due to chip shortage, this article continues: “Lenovo has notified its North American channel partners of impending hardware price increases, driven largely by a renewed chip shortage that is tightening supply across the PC and server market. Surging demand for AI infrastructure has strained global production of critical memory components such as DRAM and NAND flash, pushing up procurement costs for device manufacturers and squeezing margins.
“As semiconductor suppliers prioritise high-margin data centre and AI customers, PC vendors are facing reduced allocation and higher spot pricing, forcing them to pass costs downstream to distributors and enterprise buyers. The move underscores how persistent imbalances in the semiconductor supply chain – especially in memory and advanced node production – continue to ripple through the broader hardware ecosystem, raising prices and limiting flexibility for OEMs and customers alike.”
Both these stories appeared on TonerNews in the last week of February. Traditionally, any events such as price increases or a shortage of supply in the US take a month or two to filter down to the tip of Africa which means that local distis and customers can expect even more turbulence in the near future.
And remember, these are just two of the major vendors in the market … there are many more.
Co-CEO abruptly exits iOCO
It came as quite a surprise when a pretty curt statement came out from iOCO – formerly EOH – that co-CEO Dennis Venter was leaving the company with immediate effect. After all, in just a year in the position, he and fellow CEO Rhys Summerton have been credited with keeping the newly-named company firmly on the even keel that is seeing it slowly, but steadily, getting back to growth and profitability, and finally laying to rest its chequered past.
And here at Deep Throat, we always question such short, sharp announcements: “Shareholders are advised that Dennis Venter has resigned as co-CEO and as a member of the Board of Directors of the company with immediate effect. Dennis has decided to pursue his other business interests,” says the company’s SENS release.
“The Company extends its sincere appreciation to Dennis for his leadership and contribution to the company during his tenure and wishes Dennis every success in his future endeavours.
“The executive leadership team will continue to comprise Rhys Summerton and Ashona Kooblall, who both remain focused on driving growth, financial discipline, strengthening strategic execution, and enhancing value creation for all stakeholders. The Board is confident that the executive leadership team, together with the broader management group, is well structured and aligned to deliver on iOCO’s long term vision.”
Unfortunately, our reliable little tweeters were caught as unaware as we were by Venter’s departure and couldn’t enlighten us any further. We will, however, endeavour to find out more details, Dear Reader, in the next Deep Throat column.
Pic of the Month: … in the eye of the beholder
You may have to squint a bit for this month’s contribution submitted by none other than Esteemed Editor. Sitting partaking of his favoured amber brew at The Local, EE had to briefly retreat into its interior sanctuary as a short, sharp “monkey’s wedding” soaked the outside smoking area and the unfurled sunscreen. Returning to his favourite table, EE then noticed what he calls “quite a stunning landscape … trees in the foreground … and a stunning sun starting to set.” We asked him exactly how many of his “favoured brews” he had actually had before snapping the pic, but he swears religiously he was only on his second. Canvassing the editorial staff on whether we should pander to his wish for it to be published as a Pic of the Month, colleague Kathy G probably had the most apt response: “Weird!” as she shook her head. EE merely grunted as he insisted on his right as editor to publish. “You’ve got no imagination,” he barked. “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder!”
Indeed it is!