Lesser line: The ongoing semiconductor shortage is quickly snowballing into an all-out component shortage, highlighting only how fragile the supply chain really is. Copper is the latest article to be in short supply, and information technology could drive the cost of all sorts of electronics north.

DigiTimes (paywalled, per Tom's Hardware) is reporting that copper foil used to make printed excursion boards continues to be in short supply, and that suppliers are encountering rising costs as a upshot. Equally such, i has to wonder how much of the price brunt volition be passed forth to consumers in the form of college prices for electronics.

A quick wait at the market for copper reveals a selling toll of $7,845.forty per ton near the end of December 2022. Today, the commodity is going for $9,262.85 per ton, an increase of $1,417.45 per ton over the by nine months.

According to Tom's, the price of copper foil has surged 35 percent since Q4 due to the rising cost of copper and energy production. This, in turn, is increasing the cost of PCBs. Further exacerbating the situation are other industries that are also increasingly relying on copper. The publication has a full breakdown of the current toll of copper foil rolls, how many ATX boards a single roll can produce, and so on, for those that wish to dig deeper into the economics of the situation.

While it'southward possible that all sorts of electronics could see cost hikes as a result, products like motherboards and graphics cards could be hit the hardest as they use large PCBs with a loftier layer count. In this subset, it would likely be budget hardware where the price difference would be felt the most. High-end motherboards, for case, already conduct a significant premium, and manufacturers would likely be more willing to absorb a pocket-size toll hike at this tier.