The fortunes of the electronics supply chain can change on a dime. Following two years of severe component shortages, demand is weakening, and inventories are too high, a March study found. One global distributor describes the environment as “normalizing” but cautions there’s still a lot of instability in the 2019 forecast. “Based on our survey…
A gauge of U.S. factory activity topped estimates in March, rebounding from a two-year low on strength in employment, new orders and manufacturing production. The Institute for Supply Management’s PMI reached 55.3 percent in March, a 1.1 percent increase from the prior month. Any number above 50 indicates manufacturing expansion. March made up for ground…
Even as the electronics industry roared through 2017 and 2018, manufacturers bemoaned a lack of skilled labor. It’s been a recurrent theme in the Institute for Supply Management’s monthly factory index, and now the European Union (EU) fears its workforce will be stressed as electronics employment grows. A shortage of skilled workers is the industry’s…
Component shortages always prompt OEMs and EMS providers to seek alternative sources. Periods of scarcity also exacerbate the flow of counterfeit devices into the electronics supply chain. The extent of this problem remains an unknown as incidents of counterfeits are under-reported. But there are estimates: The counterfeit semiconductor market has reached $75 billion according to Industry…
U.S. manufacturers may be facing a bumpy ride in Q1 as the nation’s factory activity cooled in February. New orders, production and employment all declined from January levels, according to the Institute for Supply Management (ISM), and the PMI dropped 2.4 percentage points to 54.2 percent. As long as the PMI remains above 50, the manufacturing industry continues to expand. “We are still in the…
This article is part of AspenCore Media’s Special Project on Huawei, dissecting the global impact if China’s telecom equipment giant is sanctioned by the United States and its allies. Huawei Technologies Co. — the controversial Chinese vendor of networking gear and smartphones — faces the real possibility that its telecom equipment will be banned from U.S.…
The advent of processors based the RISC-V Instruction Set Architecture (ISA) is not just exciting for engineers and designers—open source hardware benefits procurement, experts said. “Open source does two things for you: it rationalizes price and motivates adoption and investment,” explained Keith Witek, senior vice president, Corporate Development, Strategy, and General Counsel at SiFive, a…
Editor’s Note: This is the first of two articles examining the impact of tariffs — positive and negative–on the electronics industry. It feels like the U.S.-China tariff-and-trade war has been waging so long we’ve forgotten how it started, but its goals remain the same. The Trump administration is pressuring China to change its behavior toward…
Editor’s Note: In this Special Project, we tear down Nokia, examining its past and future. We explore what 5G and yet-to-be-defined 6G network infrastcure would look like. And more to the point, what does it mean to the industry and Nokia. Can Nokia redeem itself? Watch Nokia Corp. The communications and networking equipment manufacturer…
The nation’s manufacturing sector regained some lost ground in January as demand, production and consumption all increased from December, the Institute for Supply Management reported. At the close of 2018, the ISM’s factory index, the PMI, dropped by a precipitous 5.4 percent to 54.3. January’s PMI inched up 2.3 percentage points to 56.6. Any number…