Consolidation in the electronics supply chain continued this week as global broadline distributor WPG Holdings Co. announced plans to acquire a 30 percent stake in rival WT Microelectronics Co. Ltd. for US$266.58 million. WT Micro conducts most of its business in Southeast Asia. The announcement came within a day of two key electronics suppliers –…
Paul Andrews Jr. did not set out to build a global distribution enterprise. “My first objective was survival,” he half-joked. “I’d been laid off from General Dynamics. I’d worked in manufacturing, procurement, I’d done inventory control, managed production and had experience in sales. My primary goal was to make a living.” In the early 1970s,…
Avnet Inc. is expanding its offerings in China by launching a super store on Alibaba Group’s China-focused B2B purchasing and wholesale marketplace 1688.com. Through an alliance with Alibaba Cloud, the electronics distributor will also enable services such as IoT prototyping. As China’s largest wholesale platform for industrial products, 1688.com is home to more than 10…
In a mature market such as electronics distribution, start-ups are rare. Would-be distributors face an abundance of OEM and EMS customers demanding a unique value proposition from their channel partners. Sourceability has spent the last several years investing in a network of global distribution centers Singapore, Hong Kong, and Miami. The company doesn’t call itself an…
The National Geographic channel’s “Mars” series has entered its second season and has inspired AspenCore’s Special Projects team to delve into the future of space exploration. Our “Road to Mars” report covers the designs, technologies and imagination that drive space research, and the electronics and sourcing infrastructure that support aerospace hardware development. The world’s fascination with Mars continues to fuel space…
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…
Following a slight cool-down period in July, the nation’s factory activity is running hot. The Institute for Supply Management’s domestic production index, the PMI, grew by 3.2 percentage points to reach 61.3 in August. Any number above 50 indicates expansion. Moreover, the ISM’s leading sub-indexes, new orders and production, surged. New orders registered 65.1 percent, an…
Incidents of counterfeit electronic components dropped dramatically in 2017, according to ERAI Inc., a global organization that monitors, investigates, and reports issues affecting the supply chain. ERAI reported a total of 771 suspect counterfeit and nonconforming parts in 2017, which shows a marked decline from prior years. The organization is cautious, however, about drawing too…
The Avnet Inc. that just closed fiscal 2017 is significantly different from the Avnet of a year ago. Following a rollercoaster ride of M&A, executive turnover and internal-systems challenges, Avnet ended Q4 with sales up 16.1 percent year-over-year. Driven by organic growth of 8.4 percent, Avnet’s Q4 revenue reached of $4.6 billion from $3.9 billion…
It’s been awhile since global distributors have touted their component fulfillment services in lieu of design. However, with some component lead times extending into Q1 2018, OEMs would be “a little more comfortable” with more inventory, said one channel executive. “Customers are largely getting what they want,” Mike Long, CEO of global distributor Arrow Electronics…