Electronics Supply Chain Weekly Digest 2-27-26.
DATAPOINT OF THE WEEK: January new car registrations in Europe totaled 961k, not reaching 1M for the first time since Feb-25 and declining 3.4% Y/Y and 18.1% M/M, following strong 7.5% Y/Y growth in December, according to ACEA data.
Positively, BEVs maintained strong growth in January, reaching 189k registrations, up 13.9% Y/Y, but down 38.8% M/M. BEVs accounted for 19.7% of the market in January, up 3.9 percentage points Y/Y. PHEVs also saw significant growth, rising 29.1% Y/Y, but declined 19.3% M/M. HEVs increased 6.5% Y/Y and declined 2.9% M/M.
HEVs now account for 38.5% of the market, up from 34.9% in January 2025. ICE registrations declined 25.2% Y/Y and 15.9% M/M in January, marking its 21st straight month of Y/Y declines..
Headlines:
Auto/Transportation
- BMW negotiating minimum pricing model with EU to replace 20.7% tariffs on Chinese-made mini EVs, according to Handelsblatt, according to Reuters
- Lucid 4Q revenue Surges 123% Y/Y to $522.7M, ahead of expectations, but supply-chain woes drive larger-than-expected loss, as reported by Reuters
- Stellantis posts €20.1B loss on EV writedowns, pivots to gas and considering Chinese EV tech as CEO vows 2026 profitability, per Bloomberg
- Toyota January sales rise 4.8% Y/Y to ~887k units, a monthly record, as Honda falls 6.1% and Nissan flat, Bloomberg reported
- Chinese auto brands face awareness and trust gap in US market despite consumer openness, Cox Automotive finds
- Waymo’s Gen6 cuts hardware costs by ~50% to under $20K, eyes multi-platform rollout with Zeekr and Hyundai, according to DigiTimes
Datacenter
- CoreWeave 4Q margins compress to 6% as capex set to double to $30B–$35B in 2026, backlog surges to $66.8B, according to Reuters
- Global CSP capex to exceed $710B in 2026, up ~61% Y/Y, led by Alphabet at $178B, according to TrendForce
- Dell 4Q revenue jumps 39.5% Y/Y to $33.4B, guides FY27 AI server revenue to ~$50B, up 103% Y/Y, as reported by Reuters
- Meta signs multi-year, multi-$B deal to rent Google TPUs for AI development, in talks to purchase outright, according to The Information, per Reuters
- Nvidia’s Huang says space datacenters feasible but uneconomic, eyes satellite AI imaging as near-term use case, DigiTimes reported
- OpenAI announces it has raised $110B at $840B valuation with investments from SoftBank, Nvidia, and Amazon, according to Reuters
Industrial
- Honor to unveil first humanoid robot at MWC, targeting consumer services as part of multi-$B AI initiative, according to Bloomberg
- Schneider Electric 4Q organic revenue grows 10.7% Y/Y to €11.1B, driven by triple-digit datacenter growth, as reported by Reuters
IP&E
- Yageo 4Q revenue rises 24.8% Y/Y to $1.15B, guides 1Q26 sequential growth on AI demand and healthy inventory, per DigiTimes
Semiconductors
- AMD announces it has agreed to sell up to $60B in AI chips to Meta over five years, grants 10% ownership option via warrants, Reuters reported
- Apple explores Chinese memory suppliers for iPhone 18 to counter Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron pricing power, per Commercial Times, according to TrendForce
- ASML shifts tone in 2025 annual report, citing AI as primary demand driver across full customer base, as reported by Reuters
- ASML boosts EUV light source power from 600W to 1,000W, targets 330 wafers/hour by 2030 with path to 2,000W, per Reuters
- Broadcom targets 1M+ 3D-stacked chip sales by 2027 with Google and OpenAI among early adopters, per Reuters
- China targets 100K advanced 7nm/5nm wafers within two years and 500K by 2030, led by SMIC and Huawei-linked foundries, according to Nikkei, TrendForce reported
- HP 1Q revenue rises 6.9% Y/Y to $14.44B as AI PCs hit 35%+ of shipments, though FY26 PC units seen declining double-digits on memory cost pressures, according to Reuters
- Infineon CEO sees robotics as next AI datacenter-scale opportunity, leveraging automotive-grade MCU and SiC MOSFET technology, as reported by DigiTimes
- Nvidia 4Q Revenue Surges 94% Y/Y to $68.13B, Beats Cons Est; 1Q Guidance of $78B Tops $72.60B Forecast, Reuters reported
- No Nvidia H200 Chips Have Reached China Yet Despite US Approval, Commerce Official Confirms, as reported by Reuters
- Nvidia CFO flags gaming chip supply to remain “very tight” for several quarters on memory constraints, per Reuters
- Samsung Electro-Mechanics mulls double-digit MLCC price hikes in April as Nvidia’s VR200 drives 30%+ demand increase, says TrendForce
- SK Hynix to invest $15.1B in new Yongin semiconductor lines by 2030 to meet surging HBM and AI chip demand, Reuters reported
- Xiaomi reportedly pledges ~$27.5B five-year investment in semiconductors and AI, explores memory sector entry, says SCMP, according to TrendForce
Consumer/Other
- Apple to begin US Mac Mini assembly at Foxconn’s Houston facility in 2026, according to the WSJ, as reported by TrendForce
- Global smartphone shipments to fall 12.9% Y/Y to 1.12B units in 2026, the largest-ever decline, as memory shortages drive ASPs to record $523, per IDC, per Reuters
- Huawei kicks off 2026 European push at MWC with Mate 80 Pro and wearables launch, smartwatch business up 30%+ Y/Y, Nikkei Asia reported
- China’s rare earth restrictions drive yttrium prices 69x higher Y/Y and threaten 5G chip supply as US stockpiles measured in months, according to Reuters and SemiAnalysis
- Samsung launches Galaxy S26 with base model price up 4.7% Y/Y to $899 amid memory shortages, with select models shifting to in-house Exynos chips, according to Reuters
- US begins collecting 10% global import tariff under Section 122, signals intent to raise to 15%, as reported by Reuters