Makers should also get access to semiconductors. Maybe copyright the term because semiconductor manufacturers area all about the marketing and PR "look what we do for innovation and makers" - yet they are only selling to their biggest customers for 2 years now. They've lost the right to claim they work with innovators, makers, schools etc.

I know that was a troll but man, that's beyond, beyond.

 

Off the trolls! This is the normal way of things. If you're young, you just have not experienced this before. This is cycle 5 for me, but I've been retired for 8 years so this is no longer my crisis. Stop complaining, be patient, do what you need to survive, and this too shall pass.

 

No trolling necessary, in case you haven't noticed the situation is dire. To the point businesses can't make product. For months now. This has never been seen before, previous decades semi shortages were nothing like this. At least then you could find an alternate but now because it's across almost 100% of the manufacturers, there are no options.
Adafruit literally begging in youtube chip shortage videos for semi's from ST, Microchip, Bosch, On-Semi, TI etc. - old orders on parts that they already paid for - and they are getting nothing. Not even an update from a manufacturer.
Bosch showcases maker events/sensors yet their sensors are nowhere to be bought, despite a new fab in Dresden- unless you are a car maker. They are catering to automakers which I expect somewhat during "allocation", but completely shunning every other customer is criminal.

 

Semiconductors are among the highest technological achievement of mankind. So they have the most complicated supply chain of anything on the planet. This isn't a toilet paper or 2x4 shortage lol. Without semi's there is no innovation, hardware is what you build on.
It's the incredibly long lead times 52-100 weeks that are being given, that makes this most brutal as well as those dates being pushed back almost arbitrarily. Hobbyists can wait it out but not small businesses. I don't see the point in ensuring car production rolls along yet other businesses die out per the rules for allocation.

 

Semiconductors are among the highest technological achievement of mankind. So they have the most complicated supply chain of anything on the planet. This isn't a toilet paper or 2x4 shortage lol. Without semi's there is no innovation, hardware is what you build on.
It's the incredibly long lead times 52-100 weeks that are being given, that makes this most brutal as well as those dates being pushed back almost arbitrarily. Hobbyists can wait it out but not small businesses. I don't see the point in ensuring car production rolls along yet other businesses die out per the rules for allocation.

Your whining is becoming tiresome. Give it a rest already.
Alternatively contact your representative or get the chaplain to punch your TS card, cuz we can't do squat for ya.

 

No trolling necessary, in case you haven't noticed the situation is dire. To the point businesses can't make product. For months now. This has never been seen before, previous decades semi shortages were nothing like this. At least then you could find an alternate but now because it's across almost 100% of the manufacturers, there are no options.
Adafruit literally begging in youtube chip shortage videos for semi's from ST, Microchip, Bosch, On-Semi, TI etc. - old orders on parts that they already paid for - and they are getting nothing. Not even an update from a manufacturer.
Bosch showcases maker events/sensors yet their sensors are nowhere to be bought, despite a new fab in Dresden- unless you are a car maker. They are catering to automakers which I expect somewhat during "allocation", but completely shunning every other customer is criminal.

Right, how many of these makers were willing to help ST, Microchip, Bosch, On-Semi, TI etc when times were horrible a few years ago? The answer is damn close to zero but some sectors like automakers were willing to lock-in deals that mean they get chips off the line today.

https://theworld.org/stories/2008-12-11/bubbles-trouble-tech

SAN FRANCISCO — This may be the worst decade for the technology sector since the invention of the transistor in 1947 launched this smaller-faster-cheaper industry. When the dot.com bubble burst in 2000, the tech sector experienced widespread layoffs and many Internet startups went bankrupt.

Now technology is suffering indirectly from the second bubble to burst in the new century, this one a housing crash that has precipitated the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.

Tech firms from North America to Asia have responded with layoffs and hiring freezes. So far the pullback has been less severe than the dot.com aftermath and has mainly affected those tech sectors most sensitive to consumer spending. If policy makers can calm the larger financial crisis, forecasters expect the tech industry to emerge from the doldrums with the rest of the economy in 2010. Meanwhile, the slump is likely to drive mergers and consolidation as global competitors in this maturing industry attempt to grow through acquisition.

One sign of weakness in technology was a slump in 4th quarter semiconductor orders. Chips are the foundation of electronics and year-end shipments are typically strong. But the near-collapse of the financial system in September and October seems to have altered that dynamic and stalled growth. “The current global economic turmoil is clearly having a significant impact,” as Semiconductor Industry Association president George Scalise said in a recent forecast. SIA expects worldwide chip sales to drop nearly six percent in 2009 — the first such yearly decline since orders collapsed in 2001 after the dot.com bust.

North American semiconductor firms including National Semiconductor, Lam Research and Applied Materials have already announced layoffs. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. recently clamped a hiring freeze on its 20,000-person work force. TSMC is one of the world’s largest contract manufacturers, making chips for consumer devices such as Apple iPods, Sony televisions and Motorola cell phones.

 

Relative to the size of the market at the time, every one of the previous cycles was "the worst in history". Tough rockos! There are always low wage service jobs to keep body and soul together, or you could retire early. You have been setting a portion of your income aside for this possibility -- right?

 

Your whining is becoming tiresome. Give it a rest already.
Alternatively contact your representative or get the chaplain to punch your TS card, cuz we can't do squat for ya.

You've retired for 8 years now, why does this thread even concern you? Some of us are active in electronics design and production so the shortages directly affect our careers and livelihoods. Not everyone can grab some old IC's out of the workshop bins and be a happy camper.
Or, let's all sit here quiet and complicit and lock the thread because it's as you say- no recourse or improvement in sight for years to come, the discriminitory sales by semiconductor manufacturers to the death of businesses- is a nothing burger.

 

"discriminatory sales by semiconductor manufacturers"

'Woke' comes to semiconductor manufacturers.

 

You've retired for 8 years now, why does this thread even concern you? Some of us are active in electronics design and production so the shortages directly affect our careers and livelihoods. Not everyone can grab some old IC's out of the workshop bins and be a happy camper.
Or, let's all sit here quiet and complicit and lock the thread because it's as you say- no recourse or improvement in sight for years to come, the discriminitory sales by semiconductor manufacturers to the death of businesses- is a nothing burger.

It concerns me because I think my point of view just might be useful and instructive. As I said this is all a replay that has happened several times in a career that lasted half a century. On that time scale these situations are transitory and relatively infrequent. I'm counseling you to stop hyperventilating and running around in circles of ever increasing radius. You'd rather piss and moan on a forum where the participants have no power and limited ability to help you. You may feel better if your peers offer you some validation, but all of that won't do squat to solve the problem.

We also remember how we were treated by various players. My company got screwed by Siemens in 2005/2006 and we never forgot. We spread the word and they took it on the chin IMHO, at least in North America in the embedded processor space.

 

Wow, what an ignorant reply! What is the title of this thread?

My word, some of the people I come across on these forums are over and beyond. I couldn't imagine being your coworker or worse, your subordinate!

Shame on you. I'm done here.

Don't abandon him because he is panicked about the situation and is overcome by emotion. When a concerned associate or friend calms him down he may have a more rational approach. I need to remind everybody and the TS in particular, that there is no crying in engineering or business. You persevere, adapt, and overcome. At least that is the counsel of my friend and occasional Bridge partner, who is a former Navy Seal. If the TS wants to ring out, he can be my guest.

 

OK so we can only discuss happy happy unicorn and rainbow hope for the semiconductor shortages, year 2.

It's that the semi manufacturers are exclusively selling to preferred clients only - not small businesses, or distributors. That's what I'm calling discriminatory. I'm not sure if this is because of sales volumes or politics that determines who gets them. Automotive is high volume/low margin so you could make more profit selling low volumes to distributors where people are OK to pay more. But that's not happening.

Ignorance is comparing a semi shortage to a toilet paper or construction materials (wood) shortage. Don't take long to cut down a tree. If businesses die off because of the shortages, good luck with your innovations sitting at home. The knock on effects to related businesses is also terrible - My CM's idling because they can't stuff boards due to parts shortages. The PCB fab even has much less business as well.

Nice pic of Intel's new Ohio fab, look I saw a unicorn fly over.

 

OK so we can only discuss happy happy unicorn and rainbow hope for the semiconductor shortages, year 2.

It's that the semi manufacturers are exclusively selling to preferred clients only - not small businesses, or distributors. That's what I'm calling discriminatory. I'm not sure if this is because of sales volumes or politics that determines who gets them. Automotive is high volume/low margin so you could make more profit selling low volumes to distributors where people are OK to pay more. But that's not happening.

Ignorance is comparing a semi shortage to a toilet paper or construction materials (wood) shortage. Don't take long to cut down a tree. If businesses die off because of the shortages, good luck with your innovations sitting at home. The knock on effects to related businesses is also terrible - My CM's idling because they can't stuff boards due to parts shortages. The PCB fab even has much less business as well.

Nice pic of Intel's new Ohio fab, look I saw a unicorn fly over.

Now you're putting words in my mouth which I don't appreciate and you're still whining. I had a small business, I was discriminated against in similar circumstances, I've walked in your shoes, and I survived. You can too if you have the stones for it.

 

for the time being I'd think Makers etc could try to get substitutes, e.g. for STM32F405, perhaps micropython can substitute Raspberry Pico in its place or some other semiconductors and release a new product. However, I think even those are short. I waited months for a few pieces of Raspberry Pico from Farnell Element14.

As there is very little known about the 'inside' nature of this shortage, I've been wondering if the most basic stuff power mosfets, regulators, h-bridges, diodes, basic transistors, op amps, li-po charging ics, buck converters, ac-dc converters could come up short industry wide. if that happens, the crisis will blow much bigger.

It may be related to productivity drops perhaps in China due to the covid controls? if it is that, it should be relieved as those plants goes back to full capacity. But if it is something else more fundamental, such as shortage of feedstocks for making the semiconductors, the problem could loom (much) larger.

ok found something:
https://www.commerce.gov/news/blog/2022/01/results-semiconductor-supply-chain-request-information

The specific kinds of products we identified as having significant semiconductor supply and demand mismatches are used by critical industries, including medical devices, broadband, and autos. They include:

• Microcontrollers that are primarily made of legacy logic chips, including, for example, at 40, 90, 150, 180, and 250 nm nodes
• Analog chips including, for example, at 40, 130, 160, 180, and 800 nm nodes; and
• Optoelectronics chips including, for example, at 65, 110, and 180 nm nodes.

 

another feature from adafruit

this time round DRV8833 https://www.ti.com/product/DRV8833

we are yet to hear of shortages say of usb chips (tesla is affected, not sure who else), regulators, buck converters etc. Maybe it is because there are a large number of different suppliers for those parts. if it is a global shortage of power supply ICs, regulators, buck converters, ac-dc switching converters, that'd be interesting. As it seemed, that has not yet run out of parts.
maybe the symptom will be that the mobile phone vendor refuse to sell you the usb power supply!

oh add ATMega328P

add AP2112K-3.3 600ma CMOS LDO Regulator

for this part, I'd guess it is 'easy' to substitute? as in there are many other LDO part numbers, are those short as well?

 

I'm having a heck of a time finding PIC microcontrollers. I bought 16F76 on Ali Express. Part numbers very difficult to read with darker than usual gray ink. Programmer will not accept it as a 76 but will program it as a 73. Counterfeit? Factory rejects?

 

The chinese prefer the word "Replica". It apparently sounds much better than counterfeit stolen technology attempted to be sold as the real component.

 

I'm having a heck of a time finding PIC microcontrollers. I bought 16F76 on Ali Express. Part numbers very difficult to read with darker than usual gray ink. Programmer will not accept it as a 76 but will program it as a 73. Counterfeit? Factory rejects?

the clones have become 'notorious'
https://hackaday.com/2020/10/22/stm32-clones-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/
for stm32f103, there are a few 'working' clones I think, but the danger is one don't even get that.
https://forum.allaboutcircuits.com/threads/are-these-lm35dz-parts-bad.118398/

oh and here comes a power mosfet shortage IRLS3036
https://community.infineon.com/t5/P...stionaire-of-vehcile-manufacturer/td-p/337140
a little 'old' feb 2022
again power mosfet is 'easy' to substitute? or industry wide it will be short of power mosfet?
an old article oct 2021
https://www.powerelectronicsnews.co...f-the-mosfet-industry-from-china-perspective/
Hyundai faces MOSFET shortage feb 2022
https://www.semimedia.cc/?p=11757
MOSFET, MCU shortage may affect ODM/OEM factory shipments
https://min.news/en/economy/3a53709c4c0146f3e4a430d6a79e7225.html

Taiwanese media "Business Times" reported that the delivery period of MOSFETs has reached 4 to 5 months, and the delivery period of MCUs of more than 6 months has become the norm, and the shortage of supply has also driven prices to rise quarter by quarter.

the world runs out of power MOSFET?

 

another feature, this time INA219
https://www.ti.com/product/INA219

what do you do if you run out of high side current measurements IC?

oh would we run out of LEDs next? lol that'd be fun. But I'd think LEDs are after all a different 'supply chain' away from the rest of the 'semiconductors'

as for that MOSFET shortage earlier, it don't seem to 'bite' yet, we'd need to hear SMPS manufacturers complaining that they 'can't get chips' and refuse to sell SMPS power supplies.
oh found 1 complain
Switching regulator shortages
https://electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/616000/switching-regulator-shortages
would your notebook computer vendor sell you the computer without the power adapter? lol

an old article 2021 nov
Global Chip Shortages Cast a Long Shadow With No End in Sight
https://www.digikey.com/en/blog/global-chip-shortages-cast-a-long-shadow

 

The question is, the world seem to blissfully get along, when would be a next time you can't buy a gadget off amazon.com or elsewhere because of chip shortage?

there is another thought though, assuming that large stockists say orders chips say mcus by the millions/billions of pieces stocking them up, there should be a point some of them have so much excess inventories, they may 'dump' part of that in the markets. it is not sure when that 'trigger point' may happen.