As we pass though the last month of Summer, Milwaukee Electronics shares a valuable market review. While the supply chains of electronic manufacturers around the world are challenged by the impacts of component shortages, allocation, capacity & lead time issues; there are signs of stability, recovery and growth.
MLCCs
Multilayer Ceramic Capacitor (MLCC) inventory is beginning to build up, possibly due to over-ordering in the marketplace by end users and distributors. Several key distributors are now holding stock on lines that have been on allocation over the past 18 months. The problem of allocation has not resolved itself fully, but it is becoming a less critical issue as the market improves and smaller case sizes become more readily available. Larger case sizes are still problematic, in part due to TDK and Murata obsoleting a large proportion of their MLCC catalog (over 241,000 and 9,000 product lines respectively).
Sales and Acquisitions
Infineon is set to acquire semiconductor company Cypress. This will allow them to compete in the Electric Vehicle (EV) market and become a significant chip-maker in the global market. The deal is set to be completed by early 2020.
Marvell have sold their wireless and Bluetooth business to NXP for $1.76 billion which is set to complete by Q1 2020.
GlobalFoundries have agreed on the sale of their New York based 300mm fab to ON Semiconductor for $430 million. ON Semi will gain full operational control of the fab by the end of 2022, with GlobalFoundries manufacturing 300mm wafers on site until handover is completed.
Capacity and lead-time issues
There is a global shortage of Silicon Carbide (SiC) due to a limited number of vendors being able to produce the wafers. ST Microelectronics is strategically investing to ensure they have a supply chain that will be able to support the growing use of SiC in high power/high efficiency needed in consumer markets such as EV’s and the Internet of Things (IoT).
TDK and KOA have closed their order books whilst they battle to ensure continuity of supply to their customers with MLCC’s and commodity resistors. This is the same response as Murata, Rohm (resistor networks) and Vishay (passives).
- Samsung continues to cite allocation on many of their MLCC lines however there is still evidence of stock availability in the marketplace.
- Diodes Inc. are seeing allocation on many of their Zener diodes, bipolar and digital transistor and some general-purpose transistors.
- Infineon MOSFETs are on allocation with short supply globally.
- Yageo lines are more readily available with lead-times around 20 weeks.
- TE connectors are experiencing lengthy lead-times and relays are on allocation. This is most notable with circular connectors, TE’s Deutsch line and automotive connectors.
- ST Microelectronics has partnered with Cree to supply Wolfspeed SiC wafers during a period of growth.
- Analog Devices are experiencing production delays with lead-times on certain lines extending beyond 24 weeks and in some cases over 32 weeks.
- MLCC pricing is stable despite the ongoing market conditions but is not decreasing significantly.
- Analog Devices pricing (including Linear Technology lines) is expected to increase, and lead-times are still beyond those that are usually observed.
- Infineon MOSFETS are on allocation (fueled further by the SiC shortage) and pricing is unstable, with increases observed during the last 6 months.
- Murata filter pricing is set to increase.
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