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PS5, Xbox Series X Component Shortage To Be Investigated, President Biden Says

The semiconductor shortage is ravaging the American economy, and an executive order will investigate how to fix it.

269 Comments

A semiconductor shortage brought on by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic is beginning to become detrimental to a wide range of industries, prompting President Biden to launch an investigation into how it can be resolved.

President Biden is expected to sign an executive order today that will kick off a 100-day review of the semiconductor production pipeline, so that alternatives and strategies can be formulated to alleviate its effect on the American economy. This follows a collective call from companies such as Apple, Sony, AMD, and Qualcomm for the president take notice of the shortages and what it might mean for the economy in the short and long term.

"Semiconductors play a critical role in enabling the products and services that fuel our economy, contribute to American innovation, and enhance our national security," the groups said in a letter to the president last week. "Given the central role of semiconductors, strengthening the US position in semiconductor research, design, and manufacturing is a national priority."

The shortage is a major reason behind stock issues for electronics such as the Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5, as well as computer components such as GPUs, laptops, and more. It's become so widespread that even the automotive industry is now struggling, with electric vehicles requiring a large portion of the supply, too.

The executive order isn't limited to semiconductors either, with President Biden also launching investigations into the defense, public health, biological preparedness, information communications technology, transportation, and energy and food production sectors

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Wingedbeast

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BIden can't even finish a thought due to his dementia.

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tOrchie

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Woo can't wait for the President to wave his magic wand and end shortages.

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bpmike83

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I'll believe it when I see it. It has been already too many years now that we have had extreme video card and console shortages. Completely unacceptable, but one major contributing factor is the fact that retailers have allowed devil worshipping scalpers to screw the mass public by buying in bulk and wiping out store shelves, just to rip off people who actually want to pay retail price only.

Welcome to the a$$holes of the world; Scalpers.

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Berserk8989

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Biden supporting the video game industry, even playing games himself.

Trump whining about how they're the reason for mass shootings, something that's been debunked a million times already.

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Wingedbeast

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@Berserk8989: Biden has never played a video game.

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Berserk8989

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@wingedbeast: Wrong. He's been playing Mario Kart and the likes with his granddaughters for years.

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SOedipus

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Kudos to Gamespot for allowing comments. President Biden making video games great again.

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deactivated-63d1ad7651984

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Just remember Trump blamed violence on video games really pathetic.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RKZn2Sf7bo

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markavelli

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@warmblur:

I prefer to remember AOC telling us we had 12 years until the world ends......

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musicman65000

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@warmblur: I like President Trump, but that was stupid and a recycled narrative that had long been debunked.

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TeshamMutna

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@musicman65000: Donald Trump on New York Values - In His Own Words - YouTube

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chisoxrule

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Granted I still can't find a PS5 but since when is it the president's responsibility to investigate this?

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TeshamMutna

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@chisoxrule: Just a possible national security threat

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noodles227

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@chisoxrule: It's extremely important. A significant amount of the chips used in all our devices comes from China and Taiwan. If that supply were to somehow be cut off (due to issues stemming from us, china, and taiwan relations) It would cripple the technology sector of American business.

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Naydazng7

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@noodles227: exactly why we should be making them ourselves Biden seems to agree with Trump build in America

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dzimm

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So glad to see China Joe focusing on the most critical problems facing the United States of America.

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deactivated-61c387491b649

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@dzimm: I guess everyone forgot the threesome of Trump, Putin and Kim all bunched up blowing kisses amongst other things to each other

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SpaceManLegend

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@dzimm: "China Joe"? I get the feeling you were going to make a dig at the president no matter what this story was about, just a hunch. I hope some day we can get past the dim one-liners and tribalism that drag this country down.

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Wingedbeast

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@spacemanlegend: Joe is weak on china.

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Naydazng7

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@spacemanlegend: same said for Trump media even gaming media could stop complaining about him so goose meet gander

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SpaceManLegend

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@naydazng7: I'm not choosing to be one side or the other. It's no secret that President Trump enjoyed the fires he started, hell... we all did for a bit. Things were heated for a while, doesn't mean it needs to be the way for all time.

I'm not a Biden fan, I don't think anyone is really. He's just not a controversial person and the claims that he is, just sound silly after listening to the guy.

He's like the neighbor that's kind of annoying when you get stuck in a conversation about the "good old days", and gives out pennies on Halloween but he also fixes all the kids bikes in the neighborhood and always invites you to a BBQ.

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mogan

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mogan  Moderator

@naydazng7: Continuing to do something dumb just because the "other side" did it is still dumb. We had four years of screeching about Trump from one side, and ****ty crowing from the other. Now it's flipped but nobody has shut the **** up with the stupid outrage drama.

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TeshamMutna

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@dzimm: Well, yes it's a problem for the USA when there aren't enough semi-conductor chips to help the USA develop AI, defense systems, cars, those devices that help you access the internet. I mean, I could go on, but I think you're smart enough to get the point.

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Matrix-54

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Wow didn't know it was a President's job to give people a reason to spend $500 when he can't even give people a dime because he can't pass a stupid bill. This is insane and has gone on long enough!

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SpaceManLegend

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@matrix-54: Looks like you spoke too soon. Bill passed the in the House, on to the Senate.

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Matrix-54

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Edited By Matrix-54

@spacemanlegend: Well I guess your right. The only problem now is how everyone's ganna get it. My cousin still has not gotten her money from the last one!

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jsprunk

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Former Vice-President Doddering Joe: “Come on, man! Poor kids are just as smart as white kids. Now let’s all join together in unity and get ‘em some PS5s. Iran, you get $400 billion in Covid relief. Syria, you get air strikes.”

Man this guy makes me feel so good inside! 🤮

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TeshamMutna

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@jsprunk: $400 billion in covid relief?

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Wasabi-G

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This title is misleading, It should read "Biden team to investigate chip shortage affecting a wide range of products and industry's that has also led to shortages in gaming consoles and GPUs".

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lamprey263

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Edited By lamprey263

There could be number of reasons. Maybe demand has exceeded production capacity. Maybe Covid has slowed production. Maybe the crypto-currency data-mining is to blame. Maybe suppliers are throttling supply to maximize profits. Maybe a little of everything.

At least Biden is acknowledging there is a problem and taking preliminary action to address it. Whereas Trump wouldn't even address Covid properly I find it odd people would want to drag their political leanings I to this.

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