What's Hot

By James Carbone, Executive Editor, TechPlus Edition -- Purchasing, 2/22/2001

The times are changing for electronics buyers. Changing for the better that is.

Supply conditions have improved for buyers compared to last year. Booming demand for cellular phones and communication equipment had buyers scrambling for a variety of parts. Many suppliers added capacity, however, end-equipment demand has slowed down and supply has loosened for many components including semiconductors, passives and connectors. There are exceptions. Certain sizes of tantalum capacitors are still tough to find and flash memory is still tight, but not as tight as last year. However, supply of those components may also improve as the year goes on because of additional capacity coming on line.

Buyers can expect prices to fall for many components including memory, microprocessors, connectors and switches.