As we close the book on 2023, there were a lot of major topics and events we discussed that impacted the semiconductor industry. From the growing scrutiny of PFAS ‘Forever Chemicals’ to major supply chain disruptions and how to respond to them, we had much to discuss. Look back at some of our top discussions over the past year.

How to Find Cost Savings Across Business Units 

Why should one business unit pay more for the same part than another business unit? This year, our procurement experts discussed the best practices for negotiating lower semiconductor prices and how large organizations can find additional cost savings. 

In this case study, we took a deep dive into discovering ways to save and how organizations can share their procurement data across business units to get better insights. Using visibility software to combine BOMs and pricing information from multiple business units allows companies to access an up-to-date view of their inventory, and the associated costs and volume for each part. Discover innovative cost savings in this case study. 

How to Measure the Resilience of Your Supply Chain 

Supply chain managers strive to create resilient supply chains that can withstand shortages and disruptions to avoid line-down events, but how do you quantify and measure the actual strength of your supply chain? This year, our team of experts created a customizable algorithm with 11 risk factors and over 100 part characteristics to enable companies to quantify the resiliency of their supply chain and set their own risk levels.  

With a holistic view of parts across Bills of Material (BOMs), Resilience Rating allows you to prioritize strategic actions based on the potential risk impact so you can systematically strengthen resilience across your entire supply chain. Learn more about how the tool works by reading our whitepaper “Drive Proactive Supply Chain Resilience Strategies: Advanced Risk Analytics In The Age Of Uncertainty.” 

Responding to Major Disruption Events like the Wuxi Fire and Turkey Earthquakes 

While supply chains may have generally improved from 2022 to 2023, disruption events always threaten to throw your supply chain into chaos. A major fire at a Wuxi Welnew Factory in China in early January kicked off a new year of disruption events. The factory fire impacted production for manufacturers like Vishay, Infineon, OSRAM, and Toshiba. Our experts took a deep dive into the fire and created a report detailing the impact. 

Natural disasters are a constant threat to disrupt supply chains suddenly. That was the case earlier in February when a major earthquake struck Turkey & Syria, impacting over 30 semiconductor and electronics companies, according to SiliconExpert’s Supply Chain Risk Management. We created this impact report to help businesses understand the effects of the earthquake and how they can respond.  

With the rise of natural disasters and other global risks threatening the supply chain, our team of experts hosted a webinar on how to react when disaster strikes. In this webinar, listeners learn best practices for facing today’s most disruptive challenges head-on and how to take decisive action. Watch our on-demand webinar, Supply Chain Survival Guide: How to Manage Natural Disasters with Reactive Resilience, to discover how to react to the next disruption event. 

Compliance Updates Around the Globe 

Rules and regulations have kept manufacturers on alert when it comes to the parts and chemicals they source, and how they impact environments around the world. Here is a list of links to some of the major compliance updates throughout the year: 

• SVHC Candidate List Update 2023 
• EPA Proposes to Amend PBT Rules for decaBDE and PIP (3:1) 
• 3 New Substances Added to California Prop 65 – November 2023 
• EPA Finalized PFAS Reporting Rule 
• IEC 62474 Updates: Significance for the Electronics Industry in 2023 
• ECHA Recommends 8 Substances for REACH Authorization 
• 2023 Revisions to the Global Automotive Declarable Substance List

   

How to Manage PFAS ‘Forever Chemicals’ Regulatory Updates 

Per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are the latest important topic in the material compliance section for many industries. Most states in the United States, EU/UK, and Canada, accelerated rules to restrict and prohibit the PFAS by implementing a revolution of global regulations. 

Earlier in the year, we hosted a webinar on what PFAS is, what regulatory changes are happening, and how it impacts the electronics space. If you work in the consumer products industry, whether you are a manufacturer or importer, this webinar will give you a better understanding of the PFAS restrictions with a detailed description of the upcoming worldwide regulations and ensure that you are working properly towards the new requirements. Watch the webinar on-demand here. 

CHIPS Act and Growing Trade Conflicts between the U.S. and China 

Since the CHIPS Act was signed in August of 2022, the United States has spent billions of dollars to bring semiconductor production onto its shores to secure the chip supply chains and gain a strategic advantage over its adversaries. In an effort to reduce China’s chip-making abilities, the Biden Administration banned the sale of high-level chips and chip-making equipment to China early in the year. Recently, the White House updated these rules to close loopholes where companies built slightly underpowered chips to get around the trade ban. Specifically AI chips that can provide China with a strategic military advantage.  

China also enacted policies to protect its hold on the semiconductor industry by imposing restrictions on two raw materials used in the manufacturing of a wide variety of technical applications, including semiconductors and other advanced technologies: gallium and germanium. The news caused gallium prices to spike 27% as China’s new policy threatened to restrict the availability of the compound heavily used in optoelectronics like LEDs.