Electronics Supply Chain Weekly Digest 5-8-26.
DATAPOINT OF THE WEEK: S&P reported Apr Eurozone mfg PMI increased to 52.2 from 51.6 in Mar, reaching a 4 year high and remaining in expansion for the third consecutive month, driven by further upticks in both production and new orders.
Supply side factors are also contributing to the PMI increase, with input costs continuing to rise, reaching close to a 4 year high. Germany’s mfg PMI fell to 51.4 in April from 52.2 in March, though it remained in expansion territory on continued, though decelerating growth in new orders and output along with longer supplier delivery times.
Headlines:
Auto/Transportation
- BMW holds 2026 guidance despite Trump 25% tariff threat as 1Q revenue misses on weak China demand
- Iran war-driven 27% diesel price surge is accelerating China’s electric heavy truck shift, with Q1 EV share topping 25%, says Reuters
- Lucid misses 1Q revenue by $158M and suspends full-year guidance after a supplier issue disrupted Gravity SUV deliveries
- Seven auto trade groups push to keep USMCA intact, warning bilateral split would unwind 75% regional content rule, Reuters reported
- Volvo Cars’ Feb-Apr sales fell 10% Y/Y to 162.9K units, dragged by weakness in China and the US
Datacenter
- CoreWeave’s 2026 capex floor rises $1B to $31B as AI memory shortage inflates buildout costs and Q2 revenue guide trails Street cons
- Anthropic commits $200B to Google Cloud over five years, accounting for more than 40% of Alphabet’s disclosed revenue backlog
- Nvidia to invest up to $2.1B in datacenter operator Iren as part of a 5GW AI infrastructure deployment deal, says Reuters
Connectivity
- Airoha projects optical communications revenue to more than triple in 2026, lifting wired networking to nearly 50% of sales
- Nvidia makes a multi-$B prepayment to fund new Corning factories, on top of a $3.2B equity stake disclosed earlier this week
- Global optical transceiver shipments are set to more than triple to 92M units by 2026, pushing US vendors toward Southeast Asia outsourcing, TrendForce projects
Semiconductors
- AMD reports strong 1Q on Datacenter CPU strength as long-term TAM doubles to $120B
- AOS reports better-than-expected 3Q on AI and Advanced Computing strength
- Arm reports strong quarter on licensing strength and guides June quarter ahead, but concerns surround CPU supply
- Flex plans to spin off its AI datacenter power and cooling unit into a standalone public company by 1Q27
- Global semiconductor sales hit $298.5B in 1Q26, up 25% Q/Q, putting the industry on track for a $1T year
- GlobalFoundries guides 2Q ahead on accelerating datacenter demand and silicon photonics traction
- Intel reportedly reaches preliminary deal to manufacture chips for Apple, marking major win for its contract manufacturing business, according to the WSJ
- Littelfuse reports strong 1Q on datacenter and grid modernization demand, guides 2Q higher with broadening industrial strength
- Mature-node foundry supply is tightening as TSMC’s 8-inch cuts push top-10 utilization to nearly 90% and redirect 12-inch orders toward Chinese fabs, TrendForce reported
- Micron CEO says memory supply crunch won’t ease before 2028, with the industry on track to cover just 60% of DRAM demand by 2027
- onsemi reports strong 1Q on AI datacenter and guides 2Q higher as margins inflect
- SK Hynix is weighing unprecedented customer offers to fund dedicated memory lines and bankroll ASML EUV tools, with 30%–40% prepayments on the table, per Reuters
- Skyworks reports fiscal 2Q revenue of $944M and guides 3Q revenue to $900M–$950M on strong smartphone chip demand
- Terafab chip campus near Austin could draw $119B in total investment, anchored by SpaceX, Tesla, xAI, and Intel, says SemiMedia
- VIS weighs second 12-inch fab as Singapore JV cuts planned capacity to 44K wafers/month for silicon interposer push, according to UDN News
- Wolfspeed reports in-line 3Q with margins improving on product mix, guides 4Q flat Q/Q as 10kV MOSFET launch supports high-voltage positioning
Source:
Edgewater Research
