DRAMs are tightening up
By Staff -- Purchasing, 3/21/2002
Electronic components remain, as a rule, extremely plentiful, but there are a few notable trends that bear watching. Comparing three-month averages over the past nine months, PURCHASING finds noticeable lengthening of national average leadtimes in three categories: DRAM 128 Mb, DRAM 16 Mb, and solid state relays. The DRAM stretching is really no surprise. Reports at end 2001 had suppliers unloading these memory chips at prices that were, in some cases, below their production costs, so output reductions were inevitable. The national average leadtime for 128 Mb DRAM averaged at an estimated 4.9 weeks in the first quarter of this year compared with 4.7 weeks in fourth quarter 2001 and 4.3 weeks in the third quarter of last year. For 16 Mb DRAM chips, the increase is a bit more dramatic: from an average of four weeks in third quarter 2001 to 4.5 weeks in fourth quarter 2001 and 5.3 weeks in first quarter 2002. While these changes aren't terribly big, they do show a consistent rising trend, suggesting a somewhat tighter DRAM market may be in the works. For solid state relays, PURCHASING's quarterly leads have progressed steadily outward from 3.4 weeks in third quarter 2001 to 4.6 weeks in first quarter 2002.
| Raw data for latest month | Recent history: Weighted averages | Movement in latest month | ||||||||||||
| ELECTRONICS LEADTIMES | <1 wk | 2-5 wks | 6-10 wks | 11-20 wks | 21-30 wks | 30+ wks | Mar | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Jan | Feb | |
| DRAM: 128 Mb | 9% | 64% | 18% | 9% | 0% | 0% | 5.1 | 3.6 | 4.5 | 4.5 | 5.3 | 5.1 | 4.3 | Stretch |
| DRAM: 64 Mb | 9% | 64% | 27% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 4.5 | 3.6 | 4.4 | 4.1 | 5.9 | 3.5 | 4.8 | Shrink |
| DRAM: 16 Mb | 18% | 55% | 27% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 4.2 | 3.6 | 4.2 | 3.8 | 5.6 | 5.2 | 6.4 | Shrink |
| SRAM: 4 Mb | 9% | 64% | 27% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 4.5 | 3.9 | 4.5 | 4.7 | 6.5 | 3.9 | 4.1 | Stretch |
| SRAM: 1 Mb | 9% | 64% | 27% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 4.5 | 4.3 | 4.5 | 4.7 | 6.5 | 5.2 | 4.1 | Stretch |
| SRAM: 256 K | 11% | 67% | 22% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 4.2 | 4.3 | 4.5 | 5.0 | 8.8 | 5.5 | 6.7 | Shrink |
| Flash: 32 Mb | 17% | 50% | 33% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 4.5 | 4.4 | 4.2 | 4.9 | 5.9 | 4.5 | 4.5 | No change |
| Flash: 16 Mb | 17% | 50% | 33% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 4.5 | 4.3 | 4.2 | 4.6 | 5.9 | 4.6 | 3.7 | Stretch |
| Flash: 8 Mb | 18% | 45% | 36% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 4.6 | 4.0 | 4.2 | 4.7 | 5.9 | 5.5 | 3.7 | Stretch |
| Logic: Bipolar | 18% | 55% | 27% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 4.2 | 4.8 | 3.4 | 3.6 | 6.7 | 4.1 | 3.5 | Stretch |
| Logic: CMOS | 25% | 50% | 25% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 3.9 | 4.7 | 3.8 | 3.2 | 6.2 | 4.3 | 3.2 | Stretch |
| MPU: 32-bit | 17% | 42% | 33% | 8% | 0% | 0% | 5.5 | 5.3 | 3.8 | 4.2 | 6.3 | 5.0 | 3.7 | Stretch |
| MPU: 16-bit | 18% | 45% | 36% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 4.6 | 5.1 | 3.8 | 3.8 | 6.7 | 6.0 | 4.3 | Stretch |
| Zener | 17% | 67% | 17% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 3.8 | 3.7 | 3.0 | 4.3 | 5.1 | 3.8 | 5.3 | Shrink |
| Thyristor | 12% | 65% | 24% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 4.2 | 3.6 | 2.9 | 3.9 | 5.7 | 4.5 | 4.5 | Shrink |
| Small-signal transistors | 16% | 58% | 26% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 4.2 | 2.7 | 2.7 | 3.0 | 3.6 | 3.9 | 4.4 | Shrink |
| MOSFET | 19% | 50% | 31% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 4.3 | 3.1 | 3.5 | 5.0 | 5.6 | 5.1 | 6.1 | Shrink |
| Analog digital converters | 19% | 50% | 31% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 4.3 | 6.3 | 3.3 | 4.0 | 8.2 | 6.2 | 5.5 | Shrink |
| Digital/analog converters | 18% | 53% | 29% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 4.3 | 6.0 | 2.8 | 4.1 | 7.2 | 5.6 | 5.5 | Shrink |
| Network resistors | 30% | 50% | 20% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 3.5 | 3.7 | 3.6 | 3.1 | 5.6 | 4.1 | 4.7 | Shrink |
| Thick film chip resistors | 30% | 50% | 20% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 3.5 | 3.2 | 3.0 | 3.7 | 4.9 | 5.5 | 4.6 | Shrink |
| Carbon film resistors | 41% | 45% | 14% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 2.9 | 3.3 | 3.9 | 2.5 | 5.8 | 4.5 | 4.9 | Shrink |
| Wirewound resistors | 29% | 38% | 29% | 4% | 0% | 0% | 4.4 | 3.1 | 2.6 | 4.1 | 4.7 | 5.5 | 5.4 | Shrink |
| Ceramic chip capacitors | 35% | 30% | 30% | 4% | 0% | 0% | 4.3 | 3.9 | 3.6 | 3.6 | 6.0 | 4.9 | 5.5 | Shrink |
| Film capacitors | 32% | 32% | 36% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 4.2 | 4.1 | 3.1 | 3.8 | 4.8 | 6.2 | 4.3 | Shrink |
| Tantalum chip capacitors | 26% | 43% | 26% | 4% | 0% | 0% | 4.4 | 4.7 | 3.3 | 5.3 | 7.1 | 6.1 | 5.9 | Shrink |
| D-SUB connectors | 25% | 56% | 19% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 3.6 | 3.0 | 2.4 | 3.5 | 3.9 | 4.1 | 3.3 | Stretch |
| PLCC connectors | 15% | 69% | 15% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 3.7 | 2.8 | 3.2 | 3.5 | 5.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | Shrink |
| PCB connectors | 24% | 52% | 19% | 5% | 0% | 0% | 4.2 | 2.8 | 3.2 | 3.6 | 4.5 | 4.9 | 4.0 | Stretch |
| DIP switches | 24% | 52% | 19% | 5% | 0% | 0% | 4.2 | 3.3 | 3.9 | 3.5 | 5.6 | 5.3 | 4.0 | Stretch |
| Pushbutton switches | 32% | 39% | 23% | 6% | 0% | 0% | 4.3 | 3.8 | 4.4 | 4.2 | 6.0 | 3.6 | 3.6 | Stretch |
| Slide switches | 20% | 55% | 15% | 10% | 0% | 0% | 4.8 | 3.1 | 3.3 | 3.0 | 4.4 | 4.3 | 3.5 | Stretch |
| General purpose relays | 32% | 45% | 19% | 3% | 0% | 0% | 3.8 | 2.7 | 4.2 | 3.3 | 5.0 | 3.1 | 4.0 | Shrink |
| Solid state relays | 27% | 45% | 27% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 3.9 | 2.5 | 4.3 | 4.2 | 4.7 | 4.5 | 5.3 | Shrink |
| NiCd batteries | 26% | 58% | 16% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 3.4 | 2.2 | 1.9 | 2.9 | 6.2 | 3.2 | 3.6 | Shrink |
| NiMH batteries | 20% | 67% | 13% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 3.5 | 2.8 | 2.3 | 3.7 | 6.9 | 3.2 | 3.9 | Shrink |
| Li-ion batteries | 31% | 54% | 15% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 3.3 | 3.0 | 2.5 | 4.8 | 6.2 | 4.1 | 4.3 | Shrink |
| Switcher power supplies | 17% | 46% | 25% | 13% | 0% | 0% | 5.6 | 3.9 | 5.9 | 5.6 | 9.0 | 4.9 | 3.8 | Stretch |
| Single sided printed circuit boards | 8% | 77% | 12% | 0% | 4% | 0% | 4.6 | 3.5 | 4.0 | 4.3 | 5.4 | 4.0 | 4.5 | Stretch |
| Double sided printed circuit boards | 8% | 77% | 12% | 0% | 4% | 0% | 4.6 | 3.6 | 4.0 | 4.1 | 6.5 | 4.1 | 4.8 | Shrink |
| Multi-layer printed circuit boards | 9% | 70% | 17% | 0% | 4% | 0% | 5.0 | 4.1 | 4.6 | 4.7 | 6.1 | 4.5 | 5.7 | Shrink |
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