Rapid technological advancement means that strategies for managing component obsolescence must be developed right from the manufacturing stage to prevent potential disruptions for end users. This issue is particularly critical in industries with long-life applications that have a strict regulatory and compliance landscape.
It’s inevitable. Time runs out for production of all components. Last time buys and end of life are a never a welcome alert! And unless you manufacture products that track the leading and mainstream supply, EOL can be a headache at least and a devastating blow at worst for production runs of long lifecycle products. What’s your strategy to keep production going when time’s running out on your supply chain.
The past year has been challenging for memory suppliers. Independent analysts report that customer inventory levels have been depleting while demand has been increasing. Supplier production levels and capacity investments have been cut back.
Additionally, a new post-COVID supply/demand balance has been reached with price stabilization after price declines not seen in 15 years.
The Changing Market
Industry pundits forecast that suppliers will be slow to increase capacity as they need time to recover. DDR4 supply is expected to tighten as mainstream demand shifts to DDR5. And eMMC growth is expected to continue. Price increases are projected to resume and accelerate as we enter a period of undersupply by 2024.
Now is the time to ensure your supply is stable for the period ahead. Qualify SMARTsemi DRAM, eMMC, and Flash Cards today.
Cars continue to be a great innovation driver for a myriad of applications. For years they’ve replaced with mechanical switches with solid state electronics, added sensors, advanced systems for entertainment, and more recently cutting-edge AI and cloud-connected computers seeing and analyzing the world they move in. Not only does this innovation drive automotive innovation, but it gets adopted for telecom, industrial robotics, smart home automation and more that need the ruggedness of wide operating temperature ranges developed for automotive.
This smart world requires memory on board. In cars, its memory that is qualified to an Automotive Electronics Council specification (AEC) and in automotive and beyond, its memory that operates beyond commercial and industrial temperature ranges. According to analyst firm IDC, automotive grade memory is forecast alone is forecast to exceed $7 Billion by 2027. Larger applications and operating systems, richer map data, expanded media content and log information, all shared over faster in-car networks, are driving the demand.
Memory in automotive and many of the other wide-temp range applications is also applied in component form due to space constraints, thermal conductivity, or mechanical/vibration reliability. SMARTsemi offers a variety of DRAM and FLASH components for these applications.
Memory components that are certified for use in an auto application meet packaging and testing criteria as defined in the Automotive Electronics Council AEC-Q100 test specification. The purpose of the AEC qualification is to ensure reliable operation in an automotive application. The temperature grades are typically associated with placement of the components within the vehicle.
AEC-Q100 qualified devices are graded (or classed) 0-3. An AEC-Q100 Class 2 component operates at a temperature range of -40°C to +105°C.
Class 2 applications include:
SMARTsemi component automotive applications that are AEC-Q100 Class 2 Qualified and operate at wide (auto) temperature (-40°C to +105°C) include:
Certain applications for memory components require reliability in rugged or harsh environments. While not necessarily requiring AEC-Q100 qualification, they may benefit from the additional temperature grade.
We refer to automotive grade temperature in non-automotive applications as “Wide Temperature”. Like AEC-Q100 Class 2 qualified devices, wide temperature range devices are tested to operate at -40°C to +105°C.
Applications for Wide Temperature Grade devices include:
SMARTsemi component applications that operate at wide temperature (-40°C to +105°C) include:
As your supply chain partner, we understand your challenges sourcing components for long-life applications, and we’ve aligned our priorities with yours, including long term relationships and supply agreements with Tier-1 manufacturers.
SMARTsemi is a premier source of commercial, industrial, and wide/automotive temperature grade memory components. From legacy to mainstream, our DRAM and FLASH eMMC devices and SD Cards are processed for the high-reliability and quality that long-life applications need.
Our digital platform is designed to minimize your effort to search, select, sample, and source products from our authorized stocking distributors or from us.
Your search for a component doesn’t end with SMARTsemi part numbers. Through SMARTsemi SOURCEplus we secure inventory for you from other Tier-1 and quality suppliers when a SMARTsemi part is not available.
Put our team to work for you. We’re not just a supplier, we’re your trusted sourcing partner.
SMARTsemi
39870 Eureka Dr.
Newark, CA 94560
TEL: 877-794-2749
