Intel and TSMC are two of the world's largest chipmakers, which is why we should take very seriously the fact that both companies agree that today's chip shortage could last until 2022, or even beyond.

Neither TSMC nor Intel head Pat Gelsinger believes that the ongoing chip shortage that is plaguing major tech companies, automakers, and of course gamers will end anytime soon.

TSMC CEO C.C. Wei told investors at the company's most recent earnings call that the chip shortage could last until 2022 (via Reuters).

In response to a question from JPMorgan analyst Gokul Hariharan about a process node supply shortage that could last until next year, Wei said, "Gokul, let me answer your question cautiously. [But] in fact, we expect structural demand to continue, and we intend to work closely with our customers to develop technical solutions to meet their requirements and create differentiation and long-term value for them. As a result, in fact, we expect demand to remain high. Shortages will continue throughout this year and may continue through 2022. [TSMC manufactures the majority of AMD's Radeon GPUs and Ryzen CPUs.

In addition, Intel's new CEO, Pat Gelsinger, outlined similar concerns about the chip shortage continuing beyond 2022 in an interview with The Washington Post.

"We believe we have the ability to help," Gelsinger explains. 'I think it will take a couple more years before we can fully address it. It just takes a couple of years to build capacity."

Clearly, Intel believes that the answer to the ongoing capacity crunch lies in more factories and more production capacity. Makes sense.

While the shutdowns and slowdowns caused by the coronavirus are certainly hurting global supply, the underlying concern now seems to be the massive demand for chips that far exceeds production. This affects everything from automakers to why you can't find GeForce RTX 3080s on the shelves.

Both TSMC and Intel are spending huge sums of money on new manufacturing facilities over the next few years, with TSMC hoping to keep up with demand with another $100 billion in spending. Intel, on the other hand, is developing its foundry business (Intel has historically kept its manufacturing capacity in-house) and will first spend $20 billion to build two new fabs at its Arizona facility.

So what is the position of gamers, let's be honest. Gaming products are a major earner for companies like Intel, AMD, and Nvidia, so these companies need not worry about being pushed out by the big automakers. Nevertheless, demand is likely to increase as companies like TSMC and Samsung compete for production capacity from major chipmakers.

Hopefully that will not be the case. What is more certain is that for most of 2021, Intel, AMD, and Nvidia-Nvidia's supply of key gaming PC components is expected to be even smaller.