Electronics Supply Chain Weekly Digest 7-31-26.
DATAPOINT OF THE WEEK: S&P reported flash July Eurozone mfg PMI increased to 52.0 from 51.4 in June, remaining in expansion for the sixth consecutive month, as new order growth accelerated and output continues to increase.
Germany’s flash mfg PMI significantly rose to 52.2 from 50.3 in June, marking the sharpest rise in output in ~4.5 years, supported by increased new orders, including new export orders, and a slow-down in cost inflation.
S&P reported flash US mfg PMI decreased to 53.8 from 53.9 in June, marking a year of being in expansion territory but a 4-month low as output and new orders grew at their weakest rate since March, appearing to reflect a slowdown in the stock-building seen in prior month.
Headlines:
Auto/Transportation
- BMW to overhaul “untouchable” practices and cut 8K jobs after 2Q pretax profit slumps 35% Y/Y on China weakness
- Ford lifts 2026 earnings guidance to $10-11B on resilient truck buyers, even as EV unit bleeds and SK On JV unwind drives quarterly loss
- Rivian starts R2 midsize SUV deliveries and reaffirms 2026 output of 65-70K EVs as adjusted loss narrows sharply
- Stellantis 2Q profit misses expectations as European price cuts to fight Chinese rivals offset NA pickup strength
- Musk denies WSJ report that Tesla is prepping China business separation ahead of potential SpaceX merger
- Toyota global sales slip for first time in two years as China volumes drop 17.1% Y/Y in 1H26
- Cox Automotive lifts July US SAAR forecast to 16.7M as affluent buyers shrug off gas prices and weak consumer confidence
- Xiaomi pushes into family SUV segment with SkyNomad EREV line built on new Kunlun architecture as it chases EV volume targets
- US clears Amazon’s Zoox to commercially deploy up to 2.5K robotaxis annually, narrowing Waymo’s lead in driverless ride-hailing, according to Bloomberg
Datacenter
- Amazon reports AWS posted fastest growth since 2021 in 2Q as AI demand extends cloud sales streak to five quarters
Connectivity
- GlobalFoundries lands $300M CHIPS Act award to build out US silicon photonics and CPO for AI datacenters
- Nvidia pushes CPO switches into mass production as optical engine and advanced packaging bottlenecks threaten 2027 ramp, according to TrendForce
Industrial
- Airbus lifts confidence in 2026 delivery target and softens engine dispute after 2Q profit jumps 54% Y/Y
- US FCC bans new Chinese humanoid robots and grid power inverters, hitting Unitree and Sungrow while sparing already-approved models
Semiconductors
- Arm guides C3Q revenue above estimates on datacenter CPU strength, but flags smartphone royalty softness on memory shortages
- Chinese chip packagers unleash $5.9B capex wave across ten projects targeting AI, automotive, and memory as localization accelerates, TrendForce reported
- Intel makes rare move to license Atom x86 processor technology to stealth startup Rosaic run by CEO Lip-Bu Tan’s longtime co-investor, Reuters reported
- Magnitude 7.1 earthquake in Japan halts Sony image sensor, Renesas, and TSMC JASM production as chip and auto supply chains reel
- MediaTek greenlights $5B financing to fund datacenter ASIC push as first custom AI chip enters production in 4Q
- NXP reportedly pursuing Ambarella to fold edge-AI vision silicon into its automotive chip franchise, according to Bloomberg
- NXP reports strong 2Q results with revenue up 19% Y/Y; not seeing replenishment from Auto customers yet
- Qualcomm locks in decade-long BMW win for Snapdragon cockpit and ADAS chips, deepening automotive push
- SK Hynix announces 10 five-year memory supply deals and lifts 2026 capex to $27.6B to convert AI boom into demand certainty
Consumer
- Apple guides September quarter below expectations as advanced chipmaking shortages throttle Apple silicon supply
- US President Trump dismisses USMCA renewal as Canada dispatches trade officials to Washington amid new Section 338 tariffs on $20B of imports
