How is Chipageddon affecting you?

[KrudyZ]

Not sure about the small ones, but Maxim for instance certainly regained significant market and trust thanks to the shortage.
Many companies that had basically striked Maxim off their list - for chronic poor availability and parts getting obsolete with little warning - started considering Maxim again as they have tended to do better than average ever since the shortage started.

I'm pretty sure that this is mostly due to the fact that they got bought by Analog Devices which never jerked their customers around like Maxim did.
I avoided Maxim parts like the plague, but now they are on the menu.

[Smokey]

Not sure about the small ones, but Maxim for instance certainly regained significant market and trust thanks to the shortage.
Many companies that had basically striked Maxim off their list - for chronic poor availability and parts getting obsolete with little warning - started considering Maxim again as they have tended to do better than average ever since the shortage started.

I'm pretty sure that this is mostly due to the fact that they got bought by Analog Devices which never jerked their customers around like Maxim did.
I avoided Maxim parts like the plague, but now they are on the menu.

Funny.  I've only heard of the Maxim parts sourcing/EOL problems from old timers.  I've never experienced any issues first hand, and I used a bunch of Maxim parts when they made sense.  Maybe it was the Dallas acquisition around 2001 that made them shape up?

[coppice]

Funny.  I've only heard of the Maxim parts sourcing/EOL problems from old timers.  I've never experienced any issues first hand, and I used a bunch of Maxim parts when they made sense.  Maybe it was the Dallas acquisition around 2001 that made them shape up?

People were still complaining bitterly about Maxim's service up to the time of their acquisition by ADI. A lot of people worried that they would infect ADI with bad service, but thankfully it seems to have gone the other way.

[SiliconWizard]

Not sure about the small ones, but Maxim for instance certainly regained significant market and trust thanks to the shortage.
Many companies that had basically striked Maxim off their list - for chronic poor availability and parts getting obsolete with little warning - started considering Maxim again as they have tended to do better than average ever since the shortage started.

I'm pretty sure that this is mostly due to the fact that they got bought by Analog Devices which never jerked their customers around like Maxim did.
I avoided Maxim parts like the plague, but now they are on the menu.

I don't know if it has anything to do with AD or not: while Maxim parts have happened to have good availability compared to others during the shortage, not at all for AD and LT parts. So, uh. Maybe it was mostly due to the fact that Maxim parts were less in demand. Or maybe that they are fab'ed with different process nodes that are themselves less crowded.

[TimFox]

What I remember from the “bad old days” at Maxim were complaints from design engineers who found a Maxim device perfectly suited to their requirements, only to have it discontinued shortly thereafter.  Maybe 2005 - 2010?  ADI bought Maxim in 2020.

[KE5FX]

Yeah, about ADI being the good guys.  Find me some LT8650s or LT3086IRs or any number of other LT power products, and let's talk. 

[KrudyZ]

I think you have to differentiate between parts not being available due to high demand, which is the downside of success, and obsoleting parts because your main customer doesn't want them anymore, screwing everyone else who designed them in.

[KrudyZ]

What I remember from the “bad old days” at Maxim were complaints from design engineers who found a Maxim device perfectly suited to their requirements, only to have it discontinued shortly thereafter.  Maybe 2005 - 2010?  ADI bought Maxim in 2020.

Which should be a good warning in that it is hard to fix a bad reputation.

[tom66]

Yeah, about ADI being the good guys.  Find me some LT8650s or LT3086IRs or any number of other LT power products, and let's talk. 

DC-DC converters are generally very hard to source right now.  I expect a lot of the fab capacity is taken up by automotive products, their power electronics parts would use similar processes.

[KE5FX]

For values of "right now" equal to "the last three years."

[Ed.Kloonk]

Wondering if any of you saw this video and have any comment about it.

[paulca]

Stuff is happening in china economically as well. For a few weeks there it was cheaper to order from amazon than from AliExpress. 

Right now it's not worth it at all.  IC modules you used to pick up half a dozen for a £10 on a boredom shopping binge are now £6 + £2 shipping.  Unfortunately the resellers on Amazon have figured this out too now and all those prices have skyrocketed.   I wanted a second PCM5102 DAC module for the breadboard.  The last one I bought 2 months ago on Ali was £2.20, FREE Shipping.  Now they are all £5-6 with shipping.  £8 on Amazon for a single.  There are module sellers on EBay who have just "quit" by adding a 0 to all their prices.  Suggesting they just don't want to sell in the market.... or they are facing shipping and stocking issues like everyone.

The British pound tanking doesn't help either, obviously.

I have an order from Ali which arrived in the UK on Thursday last week.  Royal Mail still haven't got it the last 400 miles.

[Black Phoenix]

Stuff is happening in china economically as well. For a few weeks there it was cheaper to order from amazon than from AliExpress. 

Right now it's not worth it at all.  IC modules you used to pick up half a dozen for a £10 on a boredom shopping binge are now £6 + £2 shipping.  Unfortunately the resellers on Amazon have figured this out too now and all those prices have skyrocketed.   I wanted a second PCM5102 DAC module for the breadboard.  The last one I bought 2 months ago on Ali was £2.20, FREE Shipping.  Now they are all £5-6 with shipping.  £8 on Amazon for a single.  There are module sellers on EBay who have just "quit" by adding a 0 to all their prices.  Suggesting they just don't want to sell in the market.... or they are facing shipping and stocking issues like everyone.

The British pound tanking doesn't help either, obviously.

I have an order from Ali which arrived in the UK on Thursday last week.  Royal Mail still haven't got it the last 400 miles.

Yes I can confirm that. Prices increased even in the Huaqiangbei Electronics Supermarkets.

Reasons I can think off, since I live here, would be the last 2 months long CoVID lockdowns all around the country, with further reduced output from factories.

I don't think that the US sanctions would be the cause since its affecting all levels, and sanctions were focused in higher quality processes.

[PlainName]

Wondering if any of you saw this video and have any comment about it.

Got to 6:01 before wandering off.

[MT]

My dad said America is trying to steal TSMC!

[Kjelt]

My dad said America is trying to steal TSMC!

Did not watch the video but know about the new giga factories they are planning.
IMO this is not stealing, this is common business sense.
You will not build a house on a vulcano that might erupt any day from now.
You build it were it is safe.
Same here, Taiwan and China are in conflict which might escalate. Europe, US and others depend for their products on the chips from TMSC.
So why not help them build factories where it is relative safe ?
But the US has been importing scientific knowledge for decades. I had hoped they would have stepped up their own education more so there would be more local uni graduates but somehow it is a question of numbers.
When there are 100000 university graduates in India to pick from........
Anyway, I think this is good for the western world at least that the suplly of electronic components will be spread across the globe instead of focussed in one region that has chance of conflict.

[paulca]

It could effect pricing though.  Then again I'm not sure the US has any more/better employment rights to the far east. 

If 50% production is happening in The far east and 50% in the US, they won't be able to produce them all at the same root cost.  So will they charge differently?  Ship products from the US to western countries only?  Or...  average out the price of production and while the price should come down as supply doubles, it might not come down that much.

[MT]

My dad said America is trying to steal TSMC!

Did not watch the video but know about the new giga factories they are planning.
IMO this is not stealing, this is common business sense.
You will not build a house on a vulcano that might erupt any day from now.
You build it were it is safe.
Same here, Taiwan and China are in conflict which might escalate. Europe, US and others depend for their products on the chips from TMSC.
So why not help them build factories where it is relative safe ?
But the US has been importing scientific knowledge for decades. I had hoped they would have stepped up their own education more so there would be more local uni graduates but somehow it is a question of numbers.
When there are 100000 university graduates in India to pick from........
Anyway, I think this is good for the western world at least that the suplly of electronic components will be spread across the globe instead of focussed in one region that has chance of conflict.

Perhaps you should watch the vid first as people actually do build houses on volcanos (e.g Cumbre Vieja ,19sept 2021) that erupts and its not the first time folks do that stuff.

[TimFox]

As a child in Sunday School, we sang a song:
"The foolish man built his house upon the sand...
"The wise man built his house upon the rock...
"etc."
It was a good song for children, who could do their own sound effects.

[SilverSolder]

As a child in Sunday School, we sang a song:
"The foolish man built his house upon the sand...
"The wise man built his house upon the rock...
"etc."
It was a good song for children, who could do their own sound effects.

It should be required for politicians to learn that song before being accepted for any position! 

[tszaboo]

My dad said America is trying to steal TSMC!

Did not watch the video but know about the new giga factories they are planning.
IMO this is not stealing, this is common business sense.
You will not build a house on a vulcano that might erupt any day from now.
You build it were it is safe.
Same here, Taiwan and China are in conflict which might escalate. Europe, US and others depend for their products on the chips from TMSC.

Yeah, Taiwanese companies put Automotive parts under allocation, so you suddenly couldn't build your 50.000 EUR car, because a 10c chip was missing for the CAN controlled dodad. I don't think anyone wants to go though this again, so they are investing into semiconductors now. What was the cycle again?
Tantalum in 2010, Discrete parts in 2015, MLCCs in 2018, ICs in 2020. So I'm guessing 2023 will be connectors and then resistors or batteries later.

[BravoV]

My dad said America is trying to steal TSMC!

One of many-many examples ... French's Alstom.

I guess most here are too young to know what was happened to Alstom.

[Black Phoenix]

My dad said America is trying to steal TSMC!

One of many-many examples ... French's Alstom.

I guess most here are too young to know what was happened to Alstom.

Care to enlighten us?

Forget it, I just read it regarding GE.

[Kasper]

[...]
What was the cycle again?
Tantalum in 2010, Discrete parts in 2015, MLCCs in 2018, ICs in 2020. So I'm guessing 2023 will be connectors and then resistors or batteries later.

I'm looking forward to having better alternatives to lithium batteries.  I hope the transition doesn't cause a shortage.  Spoke to someone the other day making flexible paper fuel cells, doing 1000/day now, planning for new machine that could make 1 million in 8 hours.

I asked if it is a fire hazard, their response was, no, you can cut them in half and they still work, you can even eat them. 

[BravoV]

My dad said America is trying to steal TSMC!

One of many-many examples ... French's Alstom.

I guess most here are too young to know what was happened to Alstom.

Care to enlighten us?

Forget it, I just read it regarding GE.

The moral story is, everything nice belong to US lap dogs, will be seized and looted by their master.   

If they can not be seized, then it will be crippled, look what happened to jet fighter industries like Swedisk Saab AB or UK's BAE System and etc.
As most EU/NATO were forced ... err .. I mean opted for the advanced stealth flying "sub-marine" F-35 fighters.