Neither component leadtimes nor pricing seem poised to budge during the month of May, according to Avnet Electronics Marketing’s Market and Technology Trends report. But buyers shouldn’t be deceived by the apparent stability: upward activity in discretes and memory may signal a pull-through effect on other components.
Avnet product experts in discretes report leadtimes for some packages are stretching by as much as 26 weeks, and prices have been increasing since April. Memory leadtimes are quoted for six weeks to the dreaded ‘A’ word – allocation. “ASP on DRAM is rising,” Avnet product managers say, “influenced by more mobile DRAM in the product mix, and by vendors raising pricing overall. Mobile DRAM is more expensive and it is now 28 percent to 30 percent of sales compared with less than 10 percent in 2012.” The distributor is seeing movement in microcontrollers as well: two-to-18 week leadtimes have extended slightly on high-end products, and pricing is stable.
In interconnect, passive and electromechanical (IP&E) products, only commercial passives warranted a footnote. Although prices and leadtimes are stable, Avnet advises there have been signs of leadtime extensions as well as some fluctuations throughout multiple suppliers. Keep in mind that some products may require contacting the manufacturer for accurate lead times due to specialty type products. Pricing is mainly stable after increases in early CY14, product managers add.
