Like most tech companies, boutique system marker Puget Systems was slammed hard by the pandemic-induced supply chain disruptions that have led to widespread shortages of critical components needed to build full systems for its customers. However, according to a new blog post by Jon Bach, president of Puget Systems, the company has finally returned to near-normal operations, indicating that supply for a broad range of system components, including CPUs, is on the mend after a tough year of crushing shortages.
As Puget noted during the opening stages of the pandemic in 2020, the company faced such severe supply shortages on a wide range of components that it was forced to cull its lineup of systems to help ensure supply. These challenges came on the back of existing memory and Intel chip shortages that were well underway before the pandemic. Making matters worse, the shift to the work-from-home paradigm pushed demand for workstations to two to three times more than normal.
One year after the beginning of the pandemic, Puget reported that sales of AMD-powered systems had passed the 50% mark, unseating Intel from its dominating 100% share of the company's sales. That was a stark turnaround from the situation in 2015 when Puget had stopped selling AMD-powered workstations because they weren't competitive with Intel's chips.
Two months ago, the company issued an update, noting that AMD chips had reached 60% of its sales. That's a sure sign that AMD's chip supply has improved, and we've seen similar signs as AMD's Ryzen 5000 chip pricing at retail outlets has fallen to new lows.
Now, 17 months later, Back says that Puget is back to normal lead times for its products and can now keep pace with demand for its workstations. Bach credits the company's industry relationships with helping to restore normal operations and hiring additional staff to help meet demand, but the rebound obviously hasn't happened overnight.
Puget Systems says that "We continue to leverage our reputation and relationships in the industry to maintain our supply, and have always been strong at planning ahead. It has been an incredible amount of work, but I am happy to report that our supply is in a state where we are able to keep pace with demand." However, the company notes that while it continues to experience some problems with supply, they are the exception rather than the norm.
All of this hopefully bodes well for the state of the broader market as signs continue to point to chip supply returning to normal for many different components for PC and workstation builds. But, unfortunately, the recovery doesn't appear to be underway for GPUs. As you can see in our GPU price index, pricing remains in the stratosphere while Bitcoin and Ethereum mining makes a comeback.
