U.S. purchasing and supply executives are entering 2019 with a bit less enthusiasm than 2018, although optimism remains strong for the next calendar year. Sixty-four percent of U.S. manufacturers polled by the Institute for Supply Management expect their revenue will grow by 5.7 percent in 2019, compared with the 5.1 percent increase predicted for 2018.…
After a significant cool down last month, the U.S. manufacturing industry bounced back in November with growth in new orders, production and employment. Overall, U.S. production has been expanding for 27 consecutive months, although manufacturers tapped the brakes in October. The nation’s leading production index, the Institute for Supply Management’s PMI, increased 1.6 percentage points…
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…
In 2018, a mixed bag of higher prices, shortages, and new imaging applications is driving up total optoelectronics, sensors and discrete semiconductors (O-S-D) sales by 11 percent and expected to set a ninth consecutive record-high level of combined revenues. With tight supplies of widely used power transistors and diodes driving up prices and new optical-imaging applications moving…
The market for microcontrollers (MCUs) —the IC industry’s original system-on-chip (SoC) product category—is expected to continue hitting record-high annual revenues through 2022 after worldwide sales dropped 6 percent in 2016 because of a slowdown in MCU unit shipments. After drawing down MCU inventories in 2016, systems manufacturers stepped up purchases of microcontrollers in 2017 with unit…
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…
Electronics executives and industry experts are all over the map regarding the impact of U.S. and China tariffs on component supplies, OCMs, distributors and their customers. One thing is crystal clear – tariffs, or “taxes,” in one form or another are going to be passed on to buyers. Research and investment firm Morgan Stanley projects…
DRAM supply and demand is so volatile that memory production, prices and availability are often measured separately from other semiconductor products. The electronics industry is currently in the midst of shortages of many critical components. An injunction, which has halted U.S.memory manufacturer Micron Technology from producing certain DRAM and SSD products in China, may press an…
U.S. manufacturers that rely on access to electronic components are on the brink of not being able to fulfill their customers’ orders. But manufacturing is still humming: The Institute for Supply Management’s leading factory index, the PMI, increased by 1.4 percent in May to 58.7. However, comments from the computer and electronics sector indicate OEMs…
Purchasing managers for the manufacturing industries in the U.S. expect growth will continue throughout the remainder of 2018. Sixty-two percent of the respondents to the Institute For Supply Management’s Semiannual Economic Forecast expect their revenue in 2018 will be 11.6 percent higher than in 2017; the industry will average 6.6 percent growth. In fact, every…