News You Can Use – 4.8.19 – 4.12.19

As the leading independent distributor of electronic components, Smith tracks open-market activity and conditions as an early indicator of trends and supply chain disruptions. Industry news provides important and time-sensitive information when strategically procuring components, planning for NPIs, or making any critical decisions in the supply chain.

We’ve curated a selection of this week’s industry articles that we feel can help customers gain relevant, useful knowledge and prepare for any supply chain requirements.

Q2 Component Demand Improves but Instability Reigns

According to a survey from Technology Partners Consulting, the electronics demand outlook for Q2 has increased slightly, with 32% of respondents expecting demand to weaken (vs. 35% in February) and 23% expecting better quarter-over-quarter growth – up from 19%. The March study also found that inventory levels remain elevated. Forty-one percent of TPC’s respondents saw cancellation rates increase over the past 30 days. However, compared to the previous “boom-bust cycle” of the late 90s, an inventory correction is not expected to take nearly as long or be nearly as dramatic. In spite of TPC’s cited “abnormally high” cancellation expectations for March, the supply chain remains in a relatively solid state due to just-in-time, lean, and build-to-order practices. Read More.

EMS Top50 total sales reach $333 billion

Manufacturing Market Insider has released its annual list of the world’s largest EMS providers. In 2018, total sales from the top 50 increased by 11% ($32 billion) from the previous year and totaled $333 billion. The top 10 remained consistent and saw impressive sales growth. Read More. or take a look at the complete list here.

AMD to see sales increase sharply in 2H19

AMD expects that it will continue to chip away at Intel’s dominant market share due to a mix of strong growth numbers, the success of its EPYC (server) and Ryzen (desktop) CPUs, and its scheduled releases of new CPU and GPU products later in the year. AMD has capitalized on Intel’s CPU shortages, supplying HP, Lenovo, and Asus with its desktop CPUs with considerable success. The company should continue to see a strong 2019. Read More. [1]

AWS to Open New Region in Indonesia

Amazon Web Services (AWS) recently announced that the company would open an infrastructure region in Indonesia by the end of 2021 or early 2022. Specifically, the new AWS Asia-Pacific (Jakarta) Region will offer three Availability Zones. This will be AWS’ ninth Region in the Asia-Pacific area. AWS’ Vice President of Global Infrastructure and Customer Support, Peter DeSantis, noted that “opening an AWS Region in Indonesia will support the country’s fast-growing startup ecosystem, large Indonesian enterprises, and government agencies.” The addition will also provide lower latency to end users across the entire Asia-Pacific area. Read More.

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