Wk 44 Electronics Supply Chain Digest

Electronics Supply Chain Weekly Digest 10-30-26.

DATAPOINT OF THE WEEK: September new car registrations in Europe totaled 1.36M, returning above the 1M mark after not reaching it for the first time in five months in August, and increasing 10.2% Y/Y and 63.8% M/M, according to ACEA data. BEVs maintained strong Y/Y growth, reaching 416k registrations, up 60% Y/Y and 71.3% M/M, accounting for 30.5% of the market in September, up 9.5 percentage points Y/Y. PHEVs also saw significant Y/Y growth, rising 24.4%. HEVs increased 5.3% Y/Y and 67.7% M/M. HEVs account for 33.6% of the market, down 1.6 percentage points Y/Y. ICE registrations declined 20.8% Y/Y, marking its 29th straight month of Y/Y declines.

Headlines:

Auto/Transportation

• Aurora announces 2026 truck deployment shortfall on supplier issues but reaffirms 1K driverless trucks by end-2027
• BYD gains traction in South Korea as number-four best-selling brand but struggles to crack Japan’s market, as reported by Reuters
• BYD Q3 profit growth slows to 28% Y/Y, below expectations as overseas competition intensifies
• Ford announces raise in operating profit guidance floor to $10.5B as 3Q core profit holds against commodity headwinds
• GM reportedly plans hybrid pivot with three-row SUVs at Michigan plant as US market share slips to 16.6%
• Great Wall Motor announces first European manufacturing base in Bulgaria with 50K-unit annual capacity for Ora 5 compact SUV
• Mercedes-Benz announces 2030 strategy update centered on China review as it works to reduce reliance on the market
• Rivian announces $250M Uber investment on track for year-end as R2 demand builds
• Toyota global sales fall 2.9% Y/Y in September as China slump extends to eighth straight month, per Bloomberg
• US October new-vehicle sales expected to hold steady near 16.1M SAAR despite weaker consumer sentiment, according to Cox Automotive
• VW announces plans to export China-developed vehicle tech to Global South markets
• VW posts deepest loss since Dieselgate on Porsche writedown and China pressure as restructuring advances

Datacenter

• Alphabet 3Q capex more than doubles to $51.4B as cloud revenue climbs, with 2027 spending set to rise further
• Amazon reports accelerating AWS growth but massive cash burn as 2026 capex guided “meaningfully” higher
• Meta launches record $95B stock sale to fund AI buildout as Nvidia, AMD, and Broadcom signal up to $5B combined interest
• Microsoft offers voluntary buyouts to about 60K employees as AI spending mounts, according to Nikkei Asia
• Microsoft announces F1Q26 Azure beat and above-plan F2Q26 guidance as capex comes in below its own $50B projection
• Oracle expands Nvidia Vera Rubin cloud deal to multi-GW scale while adding Google TPUs, Cerebras, and SambaNova to its chip lineup, according to Reuters

Industrial

• Honeywell Aerospace announces 3Q beat and narrows 2H26 guidance as it adds $500M Arizona plant

Semiconductors

• OpenAI reportedly plans to buy Google TPUs, adding a third compute source alongside Nvidia and Broadcom, The Information reported
• Infineon announces plans to invest $1B in first high-volume 300mm GaN fab in Austria by 2034
• Infineon and Enphase announce 900V CoolGaN bidirectional switches for AI datacenter solid-state transformers
• Intel announces weak 4Q guidance on manufacturing shortages, memory crunch, and PC softness extending through 1H27
• Marvell reportedly weighs Lumentum acquisition to expand optical communications portfolio against Broadcom, as reported by TrendForce
• High-end MLCC shortage set to peak in 1Q27-2Q27 as Nvidia Vera Rubin ramp and AMD MI450 procurement strain supply, according to TrendForce
• NXP guides C4Q revenue growth to 15% as auto recovery momentum appears to stall, Bloomberg reported
• onsemi reportedly in talks to acquire power-management startup Ferric for close to $1B, Information reported
• Anduril partners with Qualcomm on US-made BlueChip rugged laptops for government and military customers, per Reuters
• STMicro announces higher 2026 AI datacenter revenue forecast of $1.3B, driven by silicon photonics demand
• TSMC reportedly weighs CoWoS price hikes of up to 20% as AI packaging capacity tightens and lead times stretch, Commercial Times reported

Consumer/Other

• Apple iPhone 18 Pro launch leans on China as US and Japan sales decline, as reported by Counterpoint Research
• PC market downturn deepens with 21% Y/Y C3Q drop and steeper 27% decline forecast for C4Q, according to Counterpoint Research