Freightos, a logistics marketplace, reports that carriers have introduced their third general rate increase (GRI) since the beginning of June. High Level Freight Update Growing import demand enabled a rare third consecutive GRI to push China-U.S. ocean rates up again, even as capacity gets closer to normal. Even the trade war lead-up in late 2018…
Earlier this month, Renesas Electronics Corp. consolidated its distribution channel in Asia-Pacific, China and Taiwan. The semiconductor company terminated its relationship with global distributor WPI Group and added regional distributor WT Microelectronics. The move is notable as late last year World Peace Group (WPG), WPI’s parent, made a controversial bid to acquire a 30 percent…
A new front has opened in efforts to revive U.S. chip manufacturing as lawmakers propose billions of dollars in spending and tax incentives to promote technology innovation across the entire semiconductor ecosystem — from post-Moore’s Law basic research to advanced chip packaging. While the Trump Administration seeks to block China’s access to U.S. chip making…
Three electronics brands — Apple, FitBit and Tile—are among companies that plan to move some or all of their production out of China, according to Coresight Research. The trend isn’t new, but a recent survey found consumers are souring on Chinese-made goods. Among U.S. shoppers, 47.8 percent said American retailers should source fewer products from…
China-US West Coast ocean rates climbed 17 percent this week due to tight capacity and an unexpected bump in demand. Rates are at their highest level for over one year, dating back to January 2019. Celebrating may be premature – demand is still expected to lag through September, with ocean carriers announcing another rash of…
The Asia-Pacific region — now an epicenter of electronics — is at widely varying points on its journey through the COVID-19 pandemic. China is broadly beginning to restart its operations amid recovering domestic demand, while other geographies, such as Southeast Asia, Japan, and South Korea, are still tackling cases and under a range of control…
Two years ago, the U.S. and China began a tariff war that changed the face of international trade. Tech companies in particular deal with a series of rules and regulations that lack consistency across the globe. Electronics distributors handle many of the components, services and IT equipment that pass through the international supply chain. The…
Global smartphone sales to end users declined 20.2% in the first quarter of 2020, according to Gartner, Inc. The global shelter-in-place combined with the economic uncertainty brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic led to demand for smartphones collapsing as consumers stopped spending on nonessential products during the first quarter. “The coronavirus pandemic caused the global smartphone market…
U.S. manufacturing activity improved in May after falling to its lowest level in 11 years. The Institute for Supply Management’s factory index, the PMI, increased 1.6 percent in May to 43.1 from a 41.5 reading the prior month. The industry is still in contraction – any number below 50 indicates activity is shrinking – but…
The latest in a series of Pentagon semiconductor initiatives seeks to embed security features into chip designs that would allow silicon architects to probe economics-versus-security tradeoffs while baking in security throughout device lifecycles. The chip design effort represents continuing U.S. efforts to secure its electronics supply chain as semiconductors emerge as a choke point in…