The Greensheet: May 2025

Key Themes

• Tariff Developments Add Complexity to Sourcing: A new multi-layered U.S.–China tariff structure is expected to take effect, while exemptions remain in place until August. Buyers are navigating increased documentation checks and preparing for possible Section 232 tariffs on chips and equipment.
• Memory and Storage Prices Increase Across the Board: DDR4 and DDR5 module pricing is rising due to last-time buy deadlines and demand from hyperscalers. SSD prices are also trending upward, driven by reduced allocations and potential end-of-life announcements.
• Component Shortages Continue in AI-Related Categories: Supply constraints persist across GPUs, server CPUs, NICs, and high-spec passives as AI infrastructure builds strain production. Lead times are extending, especially for automotive and industrial segments.

Product Updates

Integrated Circuits

Price Increases, Tight Allocations, and Shifting Production Priorities

• TI will implement price hikes for select low-margin products, effective around June 15, with increases ranging from 15% to 24%. Changes primarily impact C2000™ MCU, isolation products (DSPxxx, ISOxxx, UCCxxx series), and amplifier products (MSPxxx, LMxxx series).  
• TI Automotive ICs lead times stretch to 20+ weeks for TCAN/Q1 series due to production bottlenecks.
• STMicro MEMS Sensors allocation tightens as production pivots to automotive/industrial clients. 

CPU

Delayed Recovery and AI Server Demand Continue to Stress Supply

• Intel Raptor Lake U-Series supply recovery delayed to late 2025, while the P-series sees modest improvement. 
• AMD EPYC Turin faces tightening allocation for AI servers; Milan prices rise 10% amid DDR5 transition delays. 
• Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite gains traction in AI PCs, pressuring Intel’s mobile CPU share. 
• 32-core AMD Server CPUs are expected to see price improvements.

GPU

Demand Outpaces Supply for High-End and AI-Focused GPUs

• RTX 5090 demand remain strong while the supply is catching up, supply gap still the largest among the RTX 50 series.
• RTX 5060 TI 8GB & 16GB – 16GB version is more in favor by end users comparing with the 8GB version, shortage is seen on the 16GB with longer LT on shipment to distributors. 
• NVIDIA Blackwell Pro 6000 workstation GPUs (96GB) hit Japan/India markets at $97K–$98K; server editions delayed to August. 

Networking Cards

Ongoing Shortages and Regional Policy Disruptions

• Mellanox CX-7 NIC cards supply issue mainly on the 200Gbs dual port as well as 400Gbs Single port 
• Cutting down on the backlog on the NICs from Tier 1 tech firm because of the restriction by US gov on H20 entering China. Open market still seeing supply gap and continuous shortage, price remain on uptrend. 

Memory (RDIMM / DRAM)

EOL Pressures and Hyperscaler Demand Push Prices Higher

• Samsung’s LTB window for DDR4 EOL closes June 30; Price of 32GB modules continues to increase. 
  
• Prices of DDR5 96GB/128GB is estimated to rise by 15% QoQ as hyperscalers lock supply. 
• Price of consumer grade 4Gb DDR3 price is estimated to increased in June. 

Storage (SSD/HDD)

Allocation Changes and EOL Announcements Disrupt Supply

• Various customers have reported that SSD pricing is expected to increase by 5–10% in July.
• Micron's 7450 Series SSDs are seeing increasing prices and demand due to a potential End-of-Life (EOL) announcement from the manufacturer.
• Demand for Micron's 7500 Series gains traction as 7450 allocations is reduced.
• Enterprise SSD prices projected to Increase by more than 10% QoQ in 3Q21 due to growing procurement capacity.

Passives 

Lead Time Volatility Amid Spec Shifts and Regional Demand Surges

• Primary demand continues to focus on high-spec products for AI and server applications. 
  
• While Panasonic maintains tight lead times, Kemet and Nippon Chemi-Con have also seen significant redirected orders, causing further delays in Aluminum, Polymer, and Tantalum Capacitors. 

• China’s EV sector continues to lead global demand for automotive-grade passive components. However, the market currently has a surplus, resulting in slow customer pull-through from distributors. 

Tariff Updates 

• New framework deal reached during June 9th London talks. The U.S. will now impose a total 55% tariff on Chinese imports comprising a 25% first‑term tariff, a 20% “fentanyl” levy, and a 10% reciprocal tariff 
• The U.S Commerce Department initiated a Section 232 investigation focused on chips and semiconductor equipment, aiming to protect U.S. supply chains, with tariffs possibly reaching 25% or more over the next year. 

Current State 

• Tariffs remain paused (30% U.S. / 10% China), but industry scepticism grows as the August 12 deadline nears. 
• Expected delays due to China’s "Country of Diffusion" policy, complicating wafer sourcing. 
• Increased documentation checks for components with Chinese aluminium or rare-earth content (e.g., passives, connectors). 

Manufacturer News and Company Updates

• Nvidia reportedly developing new AI chip for China that meets export controls: Following the export ban of its H20 chips to China, Nvidia is reportedly designing a Blackwell-based alternative dubbed B30 with multi-GPU scaling capabilities 
• Intel Reportedly Launching Next-generation Xeon CPUs in 2026: Intel is preparing to expand its data center portfolio with next-generation Xeon processors, as Diamond Rapids and Clearwater Forest are confirmed for a 2026 release by Michelle Johnston Holthaus, CEO of Intel Products.  
• GlobalFoundries has announced new plans to dedicate $16 billion to expanding its U.S. chip production: The largest contract chipmaker in the U.S., GlobalFoundries announced the decision in response to "unmet demand" in the U.S. for local clients such as Apple and Qualcomm. 
• AMD Manages to Shift The Dynamics of Data Center Markets Into its Favour: AMD manages to scale up to a 50% market share in the server CPU segment in less than a decade, credited to competitive EPYC CPUs. 

Supply Chain Trends

• Global semiconductor equipment billings up 21% in Q1 2025: The industry association serving the global semiconductor and electronics design and manufacturing supply chain, today reported that global semiconductor equipment billings increased 21% year-over-year to US$32.05 billion in the first quarter of 2025. 
• Kioxia Plans to Double Output in Five Years, Ramping Up NAND Flash for AI Data Centers: Japanese NAND flash memory giant Kioxia announced its mid- to long-term business plan on June 5, aiming to double its production capacity by fiscal 2029 compared to fiscal 2024 by expanding production lines  
• U.S. extends China GPU tariff exemption until August 31: The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) announced that it will suspend the planned 25% Section 301 tariffs against China, which include parts containing chips and semiconductors, like GPUs, motherboards, and solar panels, for another three months. 
  
• TSMC's enterprise demand is cascading to impact other diverse chipmaking segments: TSMC's demand for CoWoS chipmaking materials has become so great that it is causing material shortages in the memory market. 
• Samsung, Micron rumored to exit MLC NAND flash: Both memory giants are shifting away from low-capacity MLC products, sparking price hikes and a surge in orders 

Want a deeper dive into the 2025 electronic component market? 

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