Lead times and prices in the electronics components industry saw a little more movement in September than in prior months, according to Avnet’s latest Market & Technology Trends report. Pricing of analog components, discretes, logic and memory inched up in the semiconductor market while in IP&E, only military interconnect prices increased.
Lead times are increasing for discrete components among multiple suppliers on multiple packages including SOT23, DPAK, D2PAK, SOT404, SOT428, LFPAK, SOT669, SOT1023, SOT1205 and SOT1210, Avnet reports. ON Semi is increasing capacity by 25 percent in 2014 and expects the majority of lead times to improve in Q3; with the exception of SMA/B, DPAK 2 W, and SOT23, which are expected to improve in Q4. NXP is bringing on additional capacity in Q2 and Q3 and is expecting easing toward the end of Q3 on DPAK, D2PAK, SOT404 and SOT428. Remaining packages will ease in Q4 for NXP. Vishay has also seen extended lead times on several products, but it appears they have stabilized.
Memory – never the most stable of markets – saw a lot fluctuation in September, Avnet product experts report. Since only four to five OEMs drive 90 percent of demand, support can be weak for devices not used by those top customers. Samsung has exited all SRAM products, and affected customers should look to GSI, Cypress, ISSI and Renesas for full support on these families.
DDR-3 remains the design sweet spot from 1 to 4 Gb, and prevailing support is for the DDR3L / 1.35 V option which retains 1.5 V compatibility. Buyers should expect allocation and constrained delivery for 2014 and have forecasts and backlog in place. DDR4 components are now shipping at 4 Gb densityA figure of merit usually expressed in Joules per cubic inch for capacitors, Avnet reports, and modules are now sampling in various form factors, including RDIMM, SODIMM, and UDIMM.
