Large players like Apple, Samsung Electronics and HP have a lot of leverage with suppliers to demand that their orders receive priority when capacity is limited, said Peter Hanbury, a partner with consultancy Bain & Co. "They also have developed sophisticated purchasing and supply chain capabilities, including collaborative planning with semiconductor manufacturing partners and strong visibility into where their products are manufactured so they can see ahead of shortages like this," he said.

Now, however, "demand for some of these large product categories has outstripped the total capacity available," Hanbury added. "They now face the same long-term challenges [as their chip suppliers and production partners] of adding manufacturing capacity, which takes years and billions of dollars."