With Intel Corp. predicting that the chip shortage could last years, foundries — and chip makers — are in a position to increase prices. TrendForce reports various foundries are raising their wafer prices and adjusting their product mixes to ensure profitability. Back in March, Intel announced plans to invest $20 billion in U.S. chip facilities…
The labor shortage is fast becoming the next significant problem for the supply chain. Many frontline warehouse employees fall into the category of shift workers who have yet to return to the workforce, even as the economy bounces back, and the demand for workers still continues to climb. While these critical jobs remain difficult to fill, employers are focusing on optimizing…
Even in the most challenging of economies, electronics companies design new products. Component makers and distributors that assist OEMs with their designs stand to benefit from high margins or volume orders once an item reaches mass production. Catalog distributors that specialize in low-volume, high-mix design and engineering orders, such as Mouser Electronics, weather market volatility…
Optimism in the electronics market is surging, according to ECIA, bolstering data from a national manufacturing index that reached a 37-year high in March. The ECIA’s Electronic Component Sales Trend (ECST) monthly survey, which assesses month-to-month sales growth sentiment, leapt up between 26 and 27 points in component and end-market measures from February to March.…
While Renesas officially aims to get its Naka 12-inch wafer production line back to full operation within one month, research firm TrendForce expects the immediate task of restoring the cleanroom and installing new equipment systems to take much longer than that. Renesas said that the fire burned about 5 percent of the total area of…
The snowstorms in Texas have led to a 133-car pileup, nearly a half-million without power, and millions in the state under boil-water notices. The storms’ impact on semiconductor fabrication plants in the Lone Star state has also received attention. “The storm-related power outages in Texas could have a mind-blowing impact on fabs and, in turn,…
In recent years, decreasing vehicle costs and more options from car manufacturers have driven a steady increase in electric vehicle (EV) sales. With about 97 percent of battery charging taking place at work or at home, drivers of electric cars willing to accept that they may need to charge up over lunch when traveling longer…
A perfect storm of events have converged to create the semiconductor shortage of 2021. High-level collaboration across the electronics supply chain could make the deficit less painful, experts say. Shortages often prompt less-than-optimum purchasing behaviors. Competitive bidding for inventory drives prices up. Exceptions to approved vendor lists become common. And double-ordering – where purchase orders…
The burgeoning semiconductor shortage of 2021 hit chipmakers “like a ton of bricks,” according to one distributor. Of course, that’s not the phrase semiconductor suppliers would use. But the supply chain is in the midst of a perfect storm. A convergence of events is creating what’s expected to be a shortage of CPUs, MPUs, memory,…
U.S. manufacturing activity remained robust at the start of the year although pandemic-related supply and worker constraints curtailed production and drove prices up. The Institute for Supply Management’s manufacturing index, the PMI, decreased by 1.8 percent in January to 58.7 from the December level of 60.5. The index remains well above 50, the line of…