It's well known consumer behavior. When prices rise, people scramble to buy. When they fall, people wait for the bottom before they buy.
Look at the auto market in the US. Prices have been rising almost daily for months. People are scrambling to buy, and the frenzy increases the faster prices rise.
I'm in the second category. I was looking for a truck and prices were rising faster than I could blink. I couldn't even get an appointment to look at a truck for 3 weeks and when I did, it was slim pickings and no negotiating the price.
I'm sitting it out. When prices start dropping I'll start looking again.
This is alien to me. I'm used to choosing the vehicle I want and paying the price I want to pay. Salesmen would bend over backwards to make a sale. Now they're downright rude and hardly give you a moment of their time, even though you clearly state that you intend to buy today.
Not now Syn08 - they are getting price rises from the semi suppliers and passing it on with some +. But for most of the time, they are rammed full of inventory and their margins are slim. For the kind of volumes DIYers use the margins are higher, but in the big scheme of things, we are a blip. The big consumers are mobile, computing and consumer. RS, Digikey and Mouser are a bit different - they are small order specialists.
What I read was that Ningbo port has five freight terminals and one had been closed (Meishan) because one worker tested positive for Covid.
China shuts terminal at world’s 3rd busiest port after COVID case | Business and Economy | Al Jazeera
China shuts terminal at world’s 3rd busiest port after COVID case | Business and Economy | Al Jazeera
Ok a year and a half for SMT LM317? I mean they ordered over 500,000 of them? I don't use these but wow! TL783 is around the same although they were to be expected in July 2023. Now pushed back a year. Glad I build tube stuff!
https://www.mouser.ca/ProductDetail/onsemi/LM317MBSTT3G?qs=2OtswVQKCOFxsFzIc5DGlw==
https://www.mouser.ca/ProductDetail/onsemi/LM317MBSTT3G?qs=2OtswVQKCOFxsFzIc5DGlw==
During and after Superstorm Sandy, Guv Christie (with no benefit of an education in economics) declared gasoline rationing...ergo hoc...no gasoline for weeks. (IMHO Christie is exempla gratia of a mental midget) we would routinely travel 90 minutes to Allentown PA and fill up 5 "jerry-jugs", 5 gallons each as our gennie was supplementing Jersey Central Power and Light.
While semiconductors are not entirely the same, In a free market there is nothing like high prices to cure a shortage!
While semiconductors are not entirely the same, In a free market there is nothing like high prices to cure a shortage!
Just a word of caution, stock up, the Chinese situation is really bad, with the pandemic.
Do not go crazy, just enough to last till summer (May / June).
The thing is that many workers went home during the lock down, and some died.
Some found work nearer home in different sectors, and they decided that living alone in a hostel was not attractive as family life in the village.
Due to erratic supplies from raw material to production consumables, production is restricted, and the biggest orders are first priority.
The car sector here is recovering, and Taiwanese suppliers seem to deliver, but they are mostly digital chips, and their lower end production is in China for the most part.
Please bear this in mind.
What about the rest (switches, capacitors, resistors etc.), are they also in shortage?
Do not go crazy, just enough to last till summer (May / June).
The thing is that many workers went home during the lock down, and some died.
Some found work nearer home in different sectors, and they decided that living alone in a hostel was not attractive as family life in the village.
Due to erratic supplies from raw material to production consumables, production is restricted, and the biggest orders are first priority.
The car sector here is recovering, and Taiwanese suppliers seem to deliver, but they are mostly digital chips, and their lower end production is in China for the most part.
Please bear this in mind.
What about the rest (switches, capacitors, resistors etc.), are they also in shortage?
I've noticed the capacitors I used to get are out of stock, and I have to find an alternative. (Ymin 100µF/ 500V now needs to be NCC/UCC for almost 3 times the cost!).
So far I haven't had a problem getting switches and the like. Hard to find metal oxide resistors in the value I like though.
So far I haven't had a problem getting switches and the like. Hard to find metal oxide resistors in the value I like though.
It does look like China's in bad shape right now with Covid. I don't see the supply chain kinks straightening out for a while.
It's funny. Naresh mentioned how some workers went home and aren't going back to the big cities. A similar thing happened here in the US when workers didn't want to go back to work after months of quarantine. Now wages are going up and they're scrambling for workers in many industries.
I've been home for a couple years with health related issues. Now I realize how soul crushing work can be, with no time or energy to take care of yourself or be a family person. I was at work when everyone I loved died, and every employer pitched a royal bitch about the time I had to take off to deal with it. I'm sorry but that's wrong.
We need to treat our workers with dignity. I hope China comes through this crisis and I hope US employers take a second look at how they treat their employees.
It's funny. Naresh mentioned how some workers went home and aren't going back to the big cities. A similar thing happened here in the US when workers didn't want to go back to work after months of quarantine. Now wages are going up and they're scrambling for workers in many industries.
I've been home for a couple years with health related issues. Now I realize how soul crushing work can be, with no time or energy to take care of yourself or be a family person. I was at work when everyone I loved died, and every employer pitched a royal bitch about the time I had to take off to deal with it. I'm sorry but that's wrong.
We need to treat our workers with dignity. I hope China comes through this crisis and I hope US employers take a second look at how they treat their employees.
They decided not to compete in an open market for supply. I'll bet Apple don't have much inventory anywhere in the chain and the fab takes the hit if there's a slowdown further up...
Supermarkets often do something similar with farmers...
I've found that my resistors of choice (Dale CMF series) have run out of popular values at least once. I had to order alternative values (like 9.8K instead of 10K) to get by.
Mouser used to always have tens of thousands of these resistors in popular values ready to ship.
Been stocking up on everything - lifetime buys - since before the pandemic because of rapid obsolescence.
The conditions the typical worker lives in over there aren’t exactly conducive to public health. Anything going around is likely to be an issue - not just Covid.
At least WFH became an option in the US when previously it wasn’t for most office workers. It cut down on the sheer number of carriers out there, helping to curb the spread of even the common cold. And people could ditch a job in a place they didn’t like living and work remote from some place they’d rather be. This has created quite a few vacancies and employers scrambling to fill positions.
I get to work remote for the next 3 years, without anyone raising a stink about it. We’ve still got two open req’s - and that’s just for circuit designers.
https://hifisonix.com/news/the-world-wide-semiconductor-shortage-to-continue/]
The world wide shortages are now in legacy products according to Roland Berger. Looks like we will not see a return to normal for many months.
The world wide shortages are now in legacy products according to Roland Berger. Looks like we will not see a return to normal for many months.
A bit off topic:
Some migrant workers fled Hyderabad city and went home to Bihar State, nearly 2000 km, and were at a loss about sustenance during the pandemic.
A local help group funded them, and now they run their own restaurant, doing well, no intention of going back to the city to work in restaurants.
There are some signature dishes in Hyderabad, like Biryani and Chicken 65, these men were cooks in restaurants, and the food they serve was found tasty by the locals.
And their income is many times more than earlier, costs are lower in smaller places. They will never do jobs again, they are making so much now.
Many instances like this have happened, people went back to their home towns, or villages, and found work in very different sectors, and will never go back to the old factories.
Some migrant workers fled Hyderabad city and went home to Bihar State, nearly 2000 km, and were at a loss about sustenance during the pandemic.
A local help group funded them, and now they run their own restaurant, doing well, no intention of going back to the city to work in restaurants.
There are some signature dishes in Hyderabad, like Biryani and Chicken 65, these men were cooks in restaurants, and the food they serve was found tasty by the locals.
And their income is many times more than earlier, costs are lower in smaller places. They will never do jobs again, they are making so much now.
Many instances like this have happened, people went back to their home towns, or villages, and found work in very different sectors, and will never go back to the old factories.
Please consider the long term outcomes of Covid, the fatality rate is not so high, and most survivors report respiratory distress for up to a year.
But it makes your existing health issues very overwhelming, so that is what affects you badly.
In India, our climate does not need central heating at home, at work central A/c is gradually becoming common, so my perspective is different from those in countries where the cold forces you to have central HVAC, and that is where the bugs are also circulating.
I hope no offense is taken.
But it makes your existing health issues very overwhelming, so that is what affects you badly.
In India, our climate does not need central heating at home, at work central A/c is gradually becoming common, so my perspective is different from those in countries where the cold forces you to have central HVAC, and that is where the bugs are also circulating.
I hope no offense is taken.