For almost a year now, the COVID-19 pandemic has put the economy on hold. The pandemic has ravaged the manufacturing industry, leaving many people jobless and consumers without the technology they want. Semiconductor shortages have impacted the automobile industry, computer industry, phone industry, and practically every industry that uses electronics.

Ford, Toyota, Nissan, Volkswagen, and others have had to scale back their output because of these shortages, and will likely not make their 2021 sales targets. The semiconductor shortages may also cause shortages of networking or even medical equipment. To combat the great semiconductor shortage, the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) has increased its 2021 budget to $28 billion.

It is estimated that nearly 7% of ocean freight isn’t even making it out of China this quarter. To add to the semiconductor shortage, many companies must pay more for shipping and in return, have to increase the MSRP of their products to consumers. This has left many people empty-handed when it comes to buying things like the Xbox Series X, PlayStation 5, computer parts, iPhones, and much more.

The pandemic has put manufacturing pressures on the world, and it seems evident that they are not slowing down soon. High-demand graphics cards that have MSRPs of $600 are selling for well over $1300 on eBay, feeding the scalping market. The shortages affect all parts of daily life, and soon the economy will begin to suffer even more. Even with vaccinations going out, it is unknown if the shortage will be over soon, or if the world will be back to normal this year. One thing is clear, and that this is going to be a daily norm for at least a few more months.