Ongoing Mandated Lockdowns in China
Another wave of COVID-19 has affected parts of China in March. In response, the government has mandated strict lockdowns. Some manufacturers have operated at limited workforce capacity, while others have completely halted operations.
Below is a list of affected manufacturers:
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Manufacturer |
Impact |
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Molex LLC |
Strict lockdown measures in Shanghai and Kunshan regions of China have impacted Molex LLC’s factory operations. Overall, the COVID-19 outbreaks have had major impact on the local supply chain, trickling down to all operations and logistics. Molex is experiencing disruption to supply and delivery schedule delays.
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Vishay Intertechnology |
Vishay’s factory in Shanghai halted manufacturing on March 28, with a gradual push to return to 100% capacity—the factory is currently operating with 30% of its workforce. Prior to this recent lockdown, Vishay increased prices on all MOSFET, automotive, LVM and HVM packages.
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Tesla Inc. |
Tesla halted production at its Shanghai factory following citywide mandates but has since resumed operations. However, its Giga Shanghai factory is running at limited capacity—currently producing 1,200 units per day with intent to increase to 2,600 units per day. |
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Infineon Technologies |
Infineon’s distribution center in the district of Pudong is seeing delays of materials and finished products. |
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Apple Inc. |
Half of Apple’s suppliers have facilities in and around Shanghai, which have now been impacted by mandated COVID-19 shutdowns. This includes Pegatron Corp., which assembles Apple iPhones, as well as other component makers responsible for displays, printed circuit boards, thermal parts, batteries, acoustic components, and more. |
|
onsemi |
Onsemi’s global distribution center in China was forced to shut down in April due to COVID-19 protocol in the region. In response to shutdowns in Shenzhen, Suzhou and Leshan factories, the manufacturer transferred production to Singapore and Manila. However, the adjusted production will not resolve onsemi’s ability to meet the large quantity of demand, leaving customers to anticipate longer lead times. Onsemi’s operations have been continuously unstable as demand exceeds supply output. |
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STMicroelectronics |
STMicroelectronics reportedly lost two weeks' worth of production in the first quarter due to the lockdown. |
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Micron |
Micron has released a statement that the Shanghai COVID-19 restrictions are impeding its production. In particular, its NOR Flash assembly and test subcontractor production lines have temporarily ceased operations. This is expected to cause a domino effect in Micron’s supply chain, with longer lead times and higher prices across its NOR Flash products – this includes the MT25QU and MT25QL series.
It is also rumored that Micron have 90% of their forecast production without having any output schedule.
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Intel |
A bulk of Intel’s SSDs are processed in the Shanghai’s free trade zone. The lock down has resulted shipments not being able to make it out of the region. |
Littelfuse Suspends All Business with Russia
Littlefuse announced it will suspend all business activities within the Russian Federation, impacting both sales of products and the supply of materials from Russia.
It is expected that this decision will effect supply of the following products:
|
Product |
Series |
Package |
|
Schottky Diode Discretes |
DSA DSB DSS DSSK FUS |
All |
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Bipolar Power Modules
|
MCC MCD MDD MCR MCA MCK MDA MDK MDO |
Pressure Contact Modules Packages: 50 mm 60 mm 70 mm 77 mm |
|
High-Power Thryistor |
N series |
Electrode Diameter Packages: 19 mm 25 mm 34 mm |
Renesas Lead Times and Pricing Impacted by Ongoing Supply Setbacks
Renesas has experienced multiple setbacks due to COVID-19 mandated lockdowns and earthquakes affecting its factory operations. The setbacks have caused delays and price increases – lead times extend beyond a year and the manufacturer increased prices across all series in May. Specifically, the R5F523/RF5100/R5F101 series lead-time has been extended beyond 50 weeks, while the lead-times for Intersil series CA3/DG4/ICL3/ISL12/ISL2 has been extended to 78 weeks.
Intel Notifies Customers of Price Increases from May Onward
Intel issued a price-increase notice effective through May onward across all network card series. Lead-times for network cards continue to stretch. Customers are receiving parts on a by-allocation basis, leaving them no choice but to reach out to the open market for support. The ongoing raw material shortages have also had notable effect on Intel’s production, particularly its LOTG series – the current market price remains high with no relief expected in the near future.
Extended Lead Times and Price Increases to Be Expected Across Microchip Series
Microchip allocations remain tight as the raw material shortages and TSMC’s 0.18-micron wafer decommitment affects production across the board, notably for all mobile and smart electronic industry components. Microchip also increased prices by 5-40% on some series – in general a 10% increase has been implemented, while lead times are currently sitting at more than 50 weeks. It is rumored that Microchip now requires customers to place orders one year in advance to secure product, and authorized distributors are said to only be receiving 60% of their orders.
STMicroelectronics Shifts Its Production and Shipping Approach
STMicroelectronics has reduced its shipments this quarter because of decreased production in Q1. Overall, shipments were 25-35% lower in Q2 than in Q1—further reductions are anticipated throughout Q3 by 25-50%.
STM8 series is under strict allocation with prices expected to increase by 25%. The STM32H series is also affected by STMicro’s supply chain changes with customers finding little to no availability because STMicro is moving its production focus away from STM32F 1XX series.
Geopolitical Conflict Impacts Ceramic Capacitor and MLCC Lead Times
Throughout Q2, limited MLCC supply is a concern due to the rising tensions in Eastern Europe, which is impacting raw material and inert gas pricing and availability. Nickel, copper, palladium, and neon are among notable materials necessary in chipmaking that are impacted thus far. All key MLCC materials are subject to price increases and have direct impact on the cost to produce them and on availability in the market: around 85% of MLCCs are nickel and 15% are palladium.
In anticipation of rising costs, allocations on availabilities are expected to tighten. Yageo and Kemet Tantalum and Polymer products are currently sitting at lead times of 54 weeks and increasing, while Vishay Tantalum capacitors are ordered on an 82-week lead-time. TDK and Murata currently have lead times of 26 weeks, however these lead times are also expected to increase as key material availability remains unstable due to Russia-Ukraine war.
Vishay Increases Automotive Component Prices
Vishay increased prices for all board level components by 20%. In particular, the SQ & SQJ automotive series are short, with lead time stretching beyond a year (99+ weeks). The situation has become increasingly problematic because of the ongoing COVID-19 lockdown in China at Vishay’s factory location responsible for its MOSFET manufacturing.
Vishay’s production is also affected by workforce shortages in its factories and limited supply output. This is mainly contributed by growing demand for electric vehicles, which require MOSFETs for every build. Customers have been advised to place orders well in advance to minimize the risk of longer lead times as the persisting shortages continue well into 2022.
Intel and AMD Server CPU Landscape – Market Competition Continues
Both Intel and AMD are releasing new server CPUs, however, supply chain disruptors are delaying the releases to Q3 or Q4. The delay of Intel’s Sapphire Rapidand AMD’s Genoa may create a backlog of supply and limit customer availability. As a result, customers, primarily server builders, will have the alternative option of buying the existing Intel Ice Lake or Cascade Lake series, or the AMD Rome or Milan series.
Intel and AMD are among the various manufacturers affected by the mandated lockdowns in Shenzhen and Shanghai, China. The fluctuation of supply availability offers little relief in the long term for customers.
Limited Allocation and Price Increases Anticipated Across Intel’s Ethernet Controller And Chipsets
The high demand for Intel ethernet controller and chipsets continues into June, however, there is limited allocation. Throughout Q2, Intel’s support allocation capacity has been so strained that it was only able to support 20% of its demand that rolled over from Q1. In addition to constrained supply and limited allocation, Intel ethernet controller prices are expected to increase by 10-20%.
This increase affects the following series:
Manufacturer incremental price increases have become more common over the past year due to higher logistics and material costs, as well as the overarching severe shortages across the global supply chain.
Mellanox Among Adapter Card Manufacturers Feeling Supply Chain Pressure
Mellanox tends to be conservative in its price increases across its NIC products – typically increasing prices in smaller increments. However, major supply gaps due to capacity constraints in tandem with high demand is leading to a potential price increase by 25-30%. Despite its previous strategic price adjustment approach, insufficient support across its manufacturing lines have caught up with Mellanox’s pipeline.
As a result of the backlog, end users are seeking alternative adapter cards. Unfortunately, alternate adapter card manufacturers Intel and Broadcom are experiencing similar severe supply issues. Mellanox originally pushed its legacy MCX-4 and MCX-5 lines as a result of its constraints and its MCX-6 is not a sufficient option since its average lead time extends to 32 weeks.
Raspberry Pi Units Severely Constrained
Raspberry Pi production is affected by the ongoing disturbances in the supply chain and is seeing severe backlog across all units. This continues to impact supply allocation even as manufacturers shift priorities to commercial and industrial instead of consumer parts. In addition to its production constraints, Raspberry Pi consumers are competing with bots that scalp stock and resell at higher prices, which is leading to reassessment of supply and selling management to prevent this.
Amid all of these supply chain disturbances, the Raspberry Pi 4 model is anticipated to experience shortages until April 2023 amid constraints.
All Major SSD Brands Impacted by Global Inflation
Global inflation is a primary factor in the continued price increases across all SSD brands. Major SSD manufacturers Intel, Samsung and Micron are among brands implementing 5 to 13% price hikes. Ongoing IC shortages also contribute to the strain in the SSD supply chain, as builds are disrupted because there is limited support across all lines.
DIMM Prices Expected to Decrease as Vendors Reduce Inventory
Official pricing for PC DIMMs continues to drop 4-7%, with server DIMMs dipping by around 2-3%. Overall, demand is expected to soften for the next few months as vendors attempt to reduce inventory by selling off at loss.
With Newer intel and AMD CPU series (Sapphire Rapids & Genoa) set to delay the launch to Q4 instead, key parts that is compatible to these CPUs are slowly launching to the market. Vendors shared that many customers are still in NPI testing phase and should take a while with this. Lastly, we are seeing up and coming DDR5 modules pricing at least 20-30% higher than DDR4 modules.
GPU market improving after Shanghai lockdowns disrupted shipping capacity
The GPU market is much more end-user friendly than it was this time last year. Despite the Shanghai lockdown impacting ability of GPU manufacturers to ship out of China the price for GPU continues to drop. The cryptocurrency space has greatly reduced it’s GPU consumption with price continuously going down. There has been an increase in demand from local PC DIY retailers. Overall, tier 1 GPU manufacturers have reduced prices roughly 5%.