THE SUPPLY SIGNAL

The honeymoon's over. After 18 months of falling component prices, Anglia Components confirmed what you've probably felt in your latest quotes — we're seeing 5-15% price increases across passive components with lead times stretching back out. Memory chips are the worst hit, with HP publicly announcing they're burning cash on "soaring memory costs" and expanding their supplier base to manage exposure[4].

This isn't a blip. The fundamentals shifted in March when NAND flash allocation tightened and DRAM spot prices jumped 12% in three weeks. Your Q2 budgets just became optimistic, and Q3 planning needs a serious reset. The Middle East situation is making things worse — semiconductor fabs are quietly activating backup supply routes, which always means higher costs get passed down[3].

• • Samsung's Q1 foundry utilization dropped to 78% — first time below 80% since 2022
• • MLCC lead times extended to 16-20 weeks for high-cap automotive grades
• • 47% of buyers are dual-sourcing connectors after Molex's February allocation notice
• • Chinese PCB exports down 23% YoY as domestic demand recovers
• • Apple locked 65% of advanced packaging capacity through 2026 — everyone else fights for scraps

• • Korean trade ministry meeting this Thursday on semiconductor export controls — could impact your Samsung/SK Hynix flows
• • Texas Instruments' earnings call next week might signal broader analog price moves
• • Port congestion building in Long Beach again — 8% increase in electronics container dwell time

Hit reply and tell me — are you seeing the same 5-15% price increases from your distributors this month?

Sources: 1 · 2 · 3 · 4 · 5 · 6 · 7