Strategic Purchasing

Many purchasers at OEMs and electronics manufacturing services (EMSs) have seen their semiconductor supplier choices shrink over the past 18 months because of the record amount of mergers and acquisitions in the industry. The reduction in ...

Many semiconductor and other component manufacturers see the Internet of Things (IoT) as an opportunity to grow sales at a time when traditional customer segments such as computers and smartphones are weakening...

About 15 years ago while attending a trade show, I interviewed a sales manager at a major semiconductor manufacturer about how his company worked with OEMs that were designing new systems and were considering using one or more of the chipmake...

Semiconductor buyers should keep a watchful eye on the capital expenditure plans of their key chip suppliers. The semiconductor industry will experience its second consecutive year of declining sales revenue in 2016, which will mean some chipmake...

Distributors traditionally have been important sourcing partners to established second- and third-tier OEMs and electronics manufacturing services (EMS) providers. Distributors provide such customers with components as well as a plethora of desig...

Specialization has always been part of the electronics purchasing landscape among large OEMs and electronics manufacturing services (EMS) providers. Large global electronics manufacturers often have commodity teams or purchasing councils that ...

As the New Year begins, one trend that electronics purchasers will need to keep a close eye on is supply base consolidation. In 2015 and 2014, there was an unprecedented spate of mergers and acquisitions in the electronics supply chain, some i...