Tag: coronavirus pandemic

Categories
component shortage Electronic Components

Component Prices Rise 10% to 40% – But why?

Component Prices Rise 10% to 40% - But why?

While component price increases are expected when demand surpasses supply, the scale of recent increases has come as a shock to many businesses.

In its Q3 Commodity Intelligence Quarterly, CMarket intelligence platform Supplyframe reports that some electronic components have seen prices rise by as much as 40%, making it uneconomical for products to be made.  

Specifically, semiconductors, memory and modems are seeing 10 to 40% price increases, exceeding what most analysts envisioned for 2021.

Why are prices rising?

Price rises start with materials. There are long lead times for many raw materials, causing shortages. Add rising commodity prices and difficulties transporting products and you have a disrupted manufacturing economy.

You also must factor in the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, which has caused labor shortages and disrupted the manufacturing economy with shutdowns.

Logistics is also a big fly in the ointment for electronic components. The industry is recovering from COVID-induced shutdowns and travel restrictions are causing problems at borders, creating delays that ripple through the supply chain.

Supply and demand

The bulletproof economics of supply and demand also rule the roost for electronic components, and demand is higher than it has ever been.

We are in a situation today where most electronic components manufacturers are running at 99-100% capacity and can’t keep up with demand.

Demand is outstripping supply for chips, memory and communications components like integrated circuits, discrete circuits, optoelectronics, and sensors creating a bidding war as manufacturers scramble to get what they need.

Growing demand for new technologies

Emerging technologies like artificial intelligence, machine learning, virtual reality, augmented reality, and edge computing are fuelling demand for smarter chips and data center modernization, while technologies like 5G and Wi-Fi 6 are demanding infrastructure rollout, which requires significant investment.

Across the board, technology is booming. Manufacturers are making more products for more people, and they must do so while balancing costs at a time when component prices are rising – no easy feat even for established businesses. 

Pressure relief

Everyone is raising prices in line with their own cost increases, from semiconductor manufacturers to outsourced fabs and suppliers. At 10 to 40%, these increases are putting pressure on supply chains and businesses.

How many price increases will target markets absorb? How can we sustain production without significant margin pressure? These are the challenges facing manufacturers, who are stuck between a rock and a hard place right now.

There are a few solutions:

  • Equivalents: Source equivalent components from different brands/makers/OEMs that meet size, power, specification, and design standards.
  • Use an electronic components distributor: Distributors are the best-connected players in the industry, able to source hard-to-procure and shortage components thanks to relationships with critical decision makers.

Prices will fizzle down, eventually

Although research published by Supplyframe says pricing challenges will remain through early 2023, they won’t last forever. Price rises should fizzle out towards the end of 2021 as manufacturers catch up to orders and reduce disruption.

If you are experiencing an electronic component shortage, we can help. Email us at sales@lantekcorp.com if you have any questions or call us at 973-579-8100 to talk with our team.

 

 

 

Categories
Electronic Components

Chips shortage limits auto production in Brazil and the rest of the world

Chips shortage limits auto production in Brazil and the rest of the world

“Never seen anything like it,” Tesla’s Elon Musk tweeted last month about the global chips shortage, “Fear of running out is causing every company to overorder – like the toilet paper shortage, but at epic scale.”

If you want a prime example of the chips shortage, look to Brazil.

In 2020, the automotive industry in Brazil was hit hard by chip shortages and the coronavirus pandemic. Approximately 1.61 million passenger cars were made in 2020, a decrease of over 34% compared to the following year. 

2021 got off to a flier… then grounded

2021 got off to a much better start for Brazil, with 1.14 million passenger cars leaving the production line in in the first half of the year, a 57.5% increase compared to the same period last year. However, production has hit a ceiling.

Brazil’s Association of Automotive Vehicle Manufacturers, ANFAVEA, has disclosed that because of chip shortages, Brazil missed its target for automotive production in the first half of 2021, and the numbers cited are startling.

According to ANFAVEA, some 100,000 to 120,000 passenger cars were prevented from entering production by the chips shortage. In June, only 166,947 passenger cars were made, the worst figures of any month in the last 12 months.

Manufacturing limitations created by the chips shortage have been compounded by the coronavirus pandemic. Brazil has seen 19.8m coronavirus cases with a 2.8% mortality rate, sadly resulting in over 500,000 deaths.

The biggest factories are struggling in Brazil

More than 20 plants in Brazil run by the likes of Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz, General Motors, Nissan, Toyota, Renault, Volvo, Scania and Honda have shut down temporarily in 2021 because of the chips shortage and the pandemic.

At the beginning of June, Volkswagen halted operations at two Brazilian plants amid the chips shortage for 10 days. The company said, “A significant shortage of semiconductors is resulting in several supply bottlenecks.”

Then, in July, Hyundai Motor temporarily halted the operations of its Brazil plant due to the chips shortage. The closure was the first in the Piracicaba plant’s history, raising the alarm over chip shortages in the automotive sector.

What next for the Brazilian automotive sector?

Figures show that in the first half of 2021, the Brazilian automotive sector had a strong rebound on 2020. However, water has been thrown over the fire towards the middle of the year, due to chip shortages across the sector.

Local manufacturers expect to see some relief after August as manufacturing plants catch up, but manufacturers are uncertain about when the supply chain will normalize.

How’s morale among big companies? Sombre, to say the least.  

IBM says the chip shortage could last two years, while Intel Intel’s chief executive, Pat Gelsinger, thinks it could stretch into 2023.

Dell’s CEO echoes these sentiments, “The shortage will probably continue for a few years. Even if chip factories are built all over the world, it takes time.”

So, whichever way we look, and whichever experts we ask, the global chip shortage is showing no signs of abating. For Brazil’s auto manufacturers, making supply meet demand will be the biggest test of the last few decades.

Need Electronic Components?

When you need to source hard to find electronic components quickly because of allocation, long lead times, obsolescence, or quality issues, contact Lantek for a fast response to your enquiries and a reliable on time delivery. Email Sales@lantekcorp.com or call 1-973-579-8100 today.