THE COMPONENT SIGNAL

Issue #008 · Monday, March 3, 2026 · Tariff Impact + Korean Spotlight

The 25% tariff on Korean electronics imports is now active. Here's what we're seeing in the first 72 hours:

Immediate effects:

• • US customs brokers are flagging Korean-origin HTS codes that previously cleared at 0%. Several customers report 48-hour holds at Long Beach and LAX air cargo while CBP reviews classification.
• • Distributor pricing has NOT yet adjusted. DigiKey, Mouser, and Arrow are absorbing the tariff on existing inventory. New inventory arriving post-March 1 will carry the surcharge. If you're planning to reorder in 3–4 weeks, you're going to see numbers you didn't budget for.
• • Korean manufacturers with Vietnamese production (including POCONS) are routing through Vietnam-origin documentation. This is legal and expected — but it requires updated certificates of origin, which adds 1–2 days to customs clearance.

What hasn't changed: Raw materials (copper, nickel, tin) imported from Korea for US processing are generally exempt if substantially transformed in the US. Shield cans stamped in the US from Korean-origin metal strip would not trigger the tariff. Shield cans stamped in Korea and imported as finished components would.

Our approach: We've shifted US-bound shield can production to our Vietnam facility. Same tooling, same alloys, same QC. Lead times unchanged. If you need updated certificates of origin, ask us.

What they make: Flexible copper-clad laminates (FCCL), cover films, and specialty adhesives for FPC manufacturing. Headquarters: Seongnam, Korea. Founded as a Doosan spin-off, now independent and publicly traded on KOSDAQ.

Why US buyers should know them: Innox controls roughly 25% of the global FCCL market — the base material for every flexible printed circuit in your phone, wearable, and automotive cable harness. When Apple or Samsung changes an iPhone flex cable spec, Innox is usually the materials supplier adapting to meet it.

Their FCCL products determine the electrical and thermal performance of the FPC — including its EMI characteristics. A poorly specified FCCL can turn a flex cable into an unintentional antenna. Innox's low-loss grades (CL series) are designed for impedance-controlled flex applications up to 28 GHz.

Where Innox fits your BOM: If you're designing flex cables for 5G mmWave antenna feeds, ADAS camera connections, or any high-speed flex interconnect, the FCCL specification matters more than most engineers realize. Innox is the supplier your FPC fabricator is probably already using — but you may not know it because FCCL is buried two tiers deep in the supply chain.

The POCONS connection: Shield cans and FPCs often coexist in tight spaces — smartphone RF sections, automotive ADAS modules, medical device flex assemblies. When we design custom shield geometries, we account for the flex cable routing beneath and around the shield. Knowing the FCCL properties helps us avoid coupling issues.

Metals

Tin alert: Myanmar's Wa State region produces ~10% of global tin ore. Mining operations suspended since late January due to political instability. This is the same supply disruption that spiked tin to $50K+ in 2022. The difference now: global tin inventories are lower. If Myanmar doesn't restart by April, tin breaks $50K and solder paste costs follow.

A customer called Monday morning — their Korean-origin shield cans were held at Long Beach customs since Friday. They needed parts for a production run starting Wednesday. We shipped identical parts from our Vietnam facility with Vietnam CoO. Cleared customs in 4 hours. They made their production date. This is going to happen a lot in March.

Check every open PO with Korean-origin content. If you have shipments arriving this month, confirm with your broker that the HTS classification is correct and the CoO documentation is ready. One misclassified line item can hold an entire shipment.