Bain warns: Prepare for AI chip shortage [Video]

Despite this ominous prediction, analysts say there are steps CIOs can take to prevent AI plans from being derailed.

Credit: Shutterstock/Javier Pardina

Surging demand for AI computing power will strain the supply chains for data center chips, personal computers, and smart phones, and, combined with “continued geopolitical tensions and other supply risks, could trigger the next semiconductor shortage,” a report released Tuesday by Bain & Company stated.

Authors of the report suggested that while semiconductor suppliers could not have predicted the pandemic, they could guard against the next big threat to semiconductor supply chains.

They noted that the “supply and demand of semiconductors is a delicate balance, as the industry and its customers know all too well after the past few years. Although the pandemic-induced chip shortage has passed, executives are starting to prepare for the next potential crunch caused by (you guessed it) artificial intelligence.”

The semiconductor supply chain, the report said, is “incredibly complex, and …