The Covid-19 pandemic and oil-market volatility drove the U.S. manufacturing index back into contraction territory in March, as the Institute for Supply Management’s PMI fell to 49.1 from 50.1 the prior month. With 50.0 as the line of demarcation between contraction and growth, new orders at 42.2 percent and employment, at 43.8, are at the…
Editor’s note: Our colleagues in China, Taiwan and other regions in Southeast Asia continue to report, from the ground, on the coronavirus’s impact on the electronics industry. ESMChina shared the following update. At least 30 countries around the world have declared a state of emergency, according to EPSNews sister publication ESMChina, as Covid-19 continues to…
The U.S. manufacturing index contracted for the fourth straight month in November — just as the Trump administration resurrected steel and aluminum tariffs on Argentina and Brazil. Global trade issues, according to the Institute for Supply Management, remain the top cross-industry concern for America’s manufacturers as the year ends. The ISM’s PMI dropped by 0.2…
Demand-side inventory for DRAM in 2H19 has returned to relatively healthy levels, according to the DRAMeXchange research division of TrendForce. Furthermore, some vendors pulled their quarterly product shipment forward to avoid potential negative impacts from Trump’s impending tariffs; this shift skyrocketed DRAM suppliers’ sales bits in 3Q19, driving total DRAM revenue up by 4 percent…
U.S. factory activity declined for the fourth straight month in July as weakening demand and ongoing trade anxiety weighed on manufacturers. The nation’s leading factory index, the PMI, fell to its lowest point since 2016, dropping by 0.5 percent to a level of 51.2. “This is the fourth straight month of PMI decline without any…
Editor’s note: This is the first of a two-part series examining how a supply chain planning system model can improve customer service and drive total value creation. Supply chain complexity has increased exponentially over the past several decades because of globalization, consumer demand for increased product customization and the development of multi-functional business processes to…
For better or worse, DRAM and flash memory have considerable influence on the fortunes of the overall semiconductor market. While memory bolstered chip sales in 2017 and 2018, it will likely have a negative impact in 2019, according to IC Insights. The market research firm expects the memory market will decline by 24 percent –…
U.S. factory activity in December plunged to a four-year low as new orders, production and employment declined sharply from November 2018 levels. Even the electronics industry, which struggled to meet component demand for the entirety of last year, abruptly hit the brakes. “Growth appears to have stopped,” a computer and electronics executive told the Institute for…
As the electronics industry plows through calendar Q4, murmurs of uncertainty around 2019 are surfacing. Analysts say there’s a possibility that demand for electronic components will cool in 2019, and tariffs continue to fuel uncertainty throughout the electronics supply chain. “Semiconductor memory ASPs are going to fall. Semiconductor sales are going to decline. The U.S…
The causes, effects and implications of “The Great Component Shortage of 2018” have been thoroughly analyzed. The automotive and IoT industries have been driving unprecedented demand for smaller and more efficient passive electronics, which in turn has stretched lead times for these once- commoditized components to the breaking point. What hasn’t been discussed, however, is the equal…