For 16 months the U.S. manufacturing sector has expanded in spite of – rather than thanks to – the global supply chain. The U.S. PMI in September increased by 1.2 percent to 61.1, according to the Institute for Supply Management. However, concern regarding the semiconductor shortage reached its highest level so far this year, said…
Robust demand for advanced processors used in networking and data center computers, new 5G smartphones, and ICs used in other high-growth electronics market applications such as robotics, self-driving vehicles and driver-assist automation, artificial intelligence, machine-learning and image recognition systems is forecast to lift total foundry sales to $107.2 billion in 2021, a 23 percent increase…
The Covid-19 pandemic, supported by U.S. government initiatives, has spurred a national push to strengthen the domestic supply chain, according to the Reshoring Initiative. If the second half of the year progresses at the same rate as 1H, reshoring and foreign direct investment (FDI) job announcements for 2021 are projected to be over 220,000 –…
Semiconductor manufacturers expect varying levels of growth — from 3 percent to 34 percent — for the third quarter (Q3), reported IC Insights, but the overall picture is rosy for the chip market. Supply remains a concern for most segments of the manufacturing industry, but chip demand remains high. In advance of an expected surge…
The current component shortages are rocking the electronic manufacturing industry as well as the industries that depend on them, which, let’s face it, is most industries. Who’d have thought that a handful of electronic parts could halt production of millions of dollars or automobiles around the world. Well, that’s exactly what happened, and there have…
Reducing supply chain risk is typically a low priority when starting a new project. Device procurement often takes a back seat to goals such as the implementation of a new feature, improving circuit accuracy, precision, or increasing battery life. But with some creativity and forward thinking, minimizing supply chain risk is possible during device selection,…
Sales of DRAM—the most commoditized of electronic components – grew 26 percent in Q2 2021 to $24.1 billion and propelled Samsung to the world’s leading chip supplier for the same period. But DRAM is also known for frequent boom-to-bust cycles and supplies are looking tight into next year. All of which is good for fabless…
Driven by surging demand and rising prices for DRAM and flash memory, Samsung, the world’s largest memory supplier, saw its total semiconductor sales increase 19 percent in 2Q21 to $20.3 billion, moving it past Intel and into first place to become the world’s largest semiconductor supplier for 2Q21, IC Insights reported. Samsung was previously ranked…
The huge market for automotive microcontrollers—which accounted for about 40 percent of total MCU sales over the last decade—has been on an uneven ride in the past several years, according to IC Insights. After climbing 12 percent in 2017, worldwide automotive MCU sales slowed to a crawl in 2018, rising just 1 percent. A borderline…
Now that most negotiations over contract prices of PC DRAM for 3Q21 have concluded, DRAM suppliers’ low inventories and the arrival of the peak season for DRAM procurement have resulted in a 3-8 percent QoQ increase in PC DRAM contract prices for 3Q21, although this is a relatively muted growth compared to the 25 percent…