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…
In addition to the human cost of life, IDC said the Covid-19 outbreak will impact year-over-year revenue growth in the global chip market. The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (Covid-19) is affecting China and is spreading within East Asia and into Europe and North America. In addition to the human cost of life, the impact of the…
Trade show postponements have become standard operating procedure during the Covid-19 outbreak, and rightly so. Last week’s cancellation of the Electronic Distribution Show (EDS) also qualifies as historic. The show has been around in one form or another since the 1930s and has suspended assembly only during World War II. EDS was scheduled for May…
The reality of Covid-19 has settled into the electronics supply chain as shipment delays, labor shortages and flight cancellations have upended global logistics. Although the tech industry has improved supply chain resilience, new technologies are gaining traction as the coronavirus spreads. The previous weeks have focused on Chinese supply as manufacturing slowly recovered across the…
Editors note: As developers realize IoT systems need more intelligence deployed to the edge to overcome latency, performance data privacy/security and bandwidth challenges, the Special Projects team at AspenCore Media explores the pursuit of that smarter edge: the what, why and where. It’s an effort — and an opportunity — that requires cooperation among component,…
Electronic component manufacturers (OCMs) and their OEM/EMS customers say they don’t have much visibility into their partners’ supply chains. During the coronavirus outbreak, that visibility may determine how quickly the electronics industry bounces back from a prolonged China shutdown. A survey the ECIA conducted on Feb. 7 found a majority of OCMs didn’t know how…
Today, on International Women’s Day 2020, I’ve been contemplating the influence of some amazing women, all that I am lucky and proud to call friends and colleagues, that are shaping the digital transformation of the manufacturing and supply chain. They are examples and heroes to us all and the exemplify to theme of this year’s…
For months, economists – and, frankly, a lot of market research firms– have practiced a “wait and see” attitude toward the global economic impact of the coronavirus, or Covid-19. As the virus spreads worldwide, the stock market tanks and rebounds and China begins to stabilize, the experts are speaking out: Patrick Gourley, University of New…
U.S. factory activity declined in February as new orders contracted and concerns about coronavirus-related supply chain disruption spread across industries. The Institute for Supply Management’s PMI is clinging to expansion at 50.1 percent, down from 50.9 percent in January. Fifty is the line of demarcation between expansion and contraction. “Coronavirus is wreaking havoc on the…