The North American franchised distribution industry had a robust 2017. The electronics industry saw the signs of a turnaround in the second half of the year as demand spiked and lead times extended for memory ICs (DRAMs and NAND flash), capacitors, resistors, discrete semiconductors and power components. Longer lead times – and allocations – have…
Avnet Inc. Is mending. It is not hale and hearty yet, though, and as it revels in recent financial wins, the distributor confronts a new challenge: shaking off the impression that it has fallen into an inescapable restructuring corkscrew. The perception that Avnet is perennially retooling operations clashes hard with the image that CEO William…
The electronics component distribution market is straining under severe margin pressures that are bound to persist until businesses in the sector come to terms with one harsh reality: there are too many of them. Further consolidation of the sector is necessary if surviving distributors are to reap the full benefits of restructuring actions undertaken in…
Arrow Electronics Inc. is knee-deep in the most consequential evolution in its history, one that has the potential to result in a complete transformation of its business and heavily impact the entire electronics value chain by forcing a reshaping of the design, engineering, new product introduction, procurement and the entire supply chain. Once finished, the…
Arrow Electronics Inc. is diving deeper into the design engineering services market with an agreement to purchase eInfochips, a San Jose-based product engineering firm serving OEMs and semiconductor companies with a range of offerings spread across various segments of the high-tech industry. The eInfochips transaction is the latest in a series of transformative actions being…
China’s desire for a bigger share of global semiconductor production will trigger massive changes in the industry, force further consolidation in the sector and accelerate the re-ordering of the electronics supply chain. EPSNews believes electronics makers must develop a viable response to China’s objective and work with the various governments involved to avoid a partitioning…
Tight supply across component segments coupled with high demand in several sectors, led by industrial and automotive, have resulted in higher tags and extended lead times in 2017. For distributors this has translated into higher component sales as buyers scramble for component supply. Gerald Paul, CEO & president of Vishay Intertechnology reported during a third…
TTI, Inc., an interconnect, passive & electromechanical (IP&E) component specialist, is on a new mission to give the market an alternative to buying semiconductors from broadline distributors. As part of this undertaking, TTI recently acquired privately-held Symmetry Electronics, a U.S.-based semiconductor distributor, building on its core principal of specialty distribution. TTI’s family of distributors has…
Electrocomponents PLC has the potential to become a $10 billion enterprise within the next 10 years but to achieve this lofty goal, the U.K.-based distributor must venture outside the electronic components market and put down big stakes in the larger maintenance, repairs and operations (MRO) market. CEO Lindsley Ruth set the stage for Electrocomponents’ transformation…
Seismic shifts don’t happen all at once. Year by year there’s a little movement, a little resistance, sudden realignment, then aftershocks. It’s an apt metaphor for the electronics distribution industry, where there’s continual movement amongst customers, suppliers and competitors. Key events during 2016 are beginning to change the landscape for the Top 50 Distributors of…