When buyers can’t find electronic components, they turn to distributors like us who can source scarce and obsolete parts.
Our experience has been tested to new extremes over the last several months due to the semiconductor and wider electronic components shortage. This shortage was years in the making but has been amplified by COVID-19.
It says everything about the state of the electronic components supply chain when Samsung, who make their own chips, don’t have enough chips. Shortages have affected brands like Samsung, Apple, Volkswagen and Nintendo not just in terms of supply, but also prices, which have skyrocketed in 12 months.
When the chips are down, prices go up.
Cyclops Electronics, as well other distributors, have become more essential than ever in supply chains since the COVID-19 pandemic began.
It’s no exaggeration to say distributors like us are keeping many businesses going. We keep production lines going by sourcing scarce parts from around the world – parts that would be impossible to source without excellent connections.
We are seeing desperation from companies that have never experienced supply chain problems. We’re talking about global companies listed publicly.
The situation is so bad for some components that some companies are paying a 100% premium just to secure them. Supply and demand is driving fierce competition and bidding wars are not uncommon.
If these revelations shock you, consider this – the electronics components shortage isn’t expected to abate until late 2021 at least. By then, there should be more order to the chaos, but some industry experts expect it to persist longer.
For example, IBM has said the chip shortage could last 2 years.
A 2 year extension would extend the chip shortage to 2023 at least. This is likely to be the case for other components too, including memory, integrated circuits and display drivers. A huge number of companies will be affected.
Distributors like us are able to source hard-to-procure components because we have rapport with the best suppliers in the industry. In other words, we have immense buying power, and we put this to use for our customers.
Another way we are playing a crucial role in the electronics components supply chain is the reduction of counterfeit components.
Counterfeiters are taking advantage of weakened supply chains, lapse quality control processes and inadequate reporting to flood the market with illegal components. This has affected thousands of buyers and will affect many more.
Our role in this is to deploy anti-counterfeiting technologies including a SENTRY machine, die testing and decapsulation testing to test the components we procure. This ensures the components we supply are genuine parts.
We provide industry-leading chip testing to catch counterfeit parts. We have ISO 9001:2015 certification and ESD qualified staff.
If you need to buy parts and the only way to get them is with a distributor, don’t rush in – make sure your distributor is as equally qualified as us first. If you need help, feel free to contact us here, or call us on 01904 415 415 for a chat with our experts.
