![]() We keep a close eye on global design activities in the engineering community, and made note of an uptick in activities throughout the second half of 2019. The good news is that some distributors, like Digi-Key, were able to forecast this shortage well in advance. Even those that have started increasing production capacity have had to shift their production lines to try and optimally meet demand as best they can. This shortage and capacity squeeze in the supply chain is likely to continue throughout 2021, and into 2022, with many suppliers announcing that they are fully booked. Some of the products that end customers, such as OEMs (original equipment manufacturers), ODMs (original design manufacturers) and contract manufacturers, are challenged with obtaining are discretes (diodes, rectifiers, mosfets, IGBTs), linear analogue, microcontrollers and microprocessors, sensors, commodity and high-end logic.įor example, in the automotive world, vehicle and truck manufacturers are struggling to find the components they need to build increasingly sophisticated and connected cars and trucks to haul freight.įurthermore, supplier manufacturers, who are attempting to increase capacity, are not able to source the semiconductors they need to build machines to manufacture their products, meaning that other product portfolios, such as interconnect, passive and electromechanical, are also beginning to be squeezed. This shortage has broad implications for the industries that consume not only semiconductors, but other electronic components as well. The recent blockage of the Suez Canal by the container ship, Ever Given has further exacerbated these backups, creating a ripple effect in global trade activities. With increased COVID-19 health and safety measures in place, ports are operating with reduced staff, meaning many container ships are anchored for several days and cannot dock in the ports. Lastly, in Europe and the US, ports can no longer keep up with unloading containers. This uptick in demand, combined with lower inventory levels with suppliers and distributors, has resulted in various supply shortages and lengthening of supplier product lead times to all-time highs.Īt the same time, a lack of shipping containers in Asia, along with logistical challenges and social distancing and quarantine measures, continue to disrupt activities in the region.Īdditionally, the supply chains of raw materials such as manganese, antimony, tungsten and ferrovanadium have been affected by supply problems and increased freight costs since November. Now, the original design activity that began in 2019 has resumed, and has in fact grown, fuelling even higher demand for semiconductors. Unfortunately, this activity was derailed by the emergence of coronavirus from a localised outbreak to a global pandemic, shifting design and support focus during the first half of 2020 to supporting the medical industry. This situation truly began about 18-24 months ago, when a large amount of design activity began taking place across many different industries, including automotive, consumer electronics, computers, industrial automation and 5G devices. And sign up to receive your own copy each month. This article was originally featured in EPDT's H2 2021 Electronics Distribution supplement, included the July 2021 issue of EPDT magazine. As David Stein, Vice President of Global Supplier Management at electronic components distributor, Digi-Key explains here, demand has reached heights that have snarled supply chains, creating a shortage of semiconductors – a result of the convergence of several different factors… Digi-Key Inventory Market demand for semiconductors has exploded over recent months, as many industries now use these vital chips in increasingly large volumes across diverse applications.
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