Component Sense Blog

Like a packet of biscuits left open in the kitchen, some electronic components can gradually absorb moisture from the air around them.

The EP2AGX190FF35C6G is a 40-nm Arria II GX field-programmable gate array (FPGA) from Intel, formerly Altera, built for designs that pair high-speed serial connectivity with a large block of programmable logic. Engineers working on wireless infrastructure, wireline networking, broadcast, and other bandwidth-heavy systems use this device when they need integrated transceivers and DSP resources on a single reconfigurable chip.

The 8735BKI-21LF is a differential-to-3.3V LVPECL zero-delay clock generator from Renesas Electronics Corporation, part of the established 8735 (ICS8735) timing family used to distribute low-skew reference clocks at up to 700 MHz. It fits hardware engineers and procurement teams building networking, telecom, and server systems that need tightly synchronised clock distribution across a board.

DRAM contract prices jumped 90 to 95% quarter over quarter in the first quarter of 2026, and NAND Flash rose 55 to 60% over the same period, according to TrendForce. Component lead times have followed a similar path. Top-tier semiconductor lead times hit 40 weeks in March 2026, a 67% jump in a single month, and 72% of organisations now say the annual cost of reactive procurement decisions tops $50,000. Procurement teams tracking purchase price variances (PPVs) are absorbing many unfavourable variances in a single budget line this year.

Overview

Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) face a persistent challenge: managing excess and obsolete (E&O) inventory. The costs are financial, operational, and environmental. E&O parts tie up working capital, occupy valuable warehouse space, and create waste if scrapped.