The scarcity of electronic components affects many industries, and the industrial PC market is no exception. Advantech claims that it has to monitor the availability of 500 parts in near real time, and the waiting times for deliveries of some of them have increased to one year. Customers are already willing to buy underfilled systems.

According to the Nikkei Asian Review, Advantech expects its second-quarter revenue to decline by 5-10% due to component shortages, as it has little to complain about lack of demand – in the first quarter, order volumes grew by 50% compared to with the same period of the previous year. Advantech expects to increase revenue in the first quarter by double-digit percent, and the growth would continue in the second quarter, but its magnitude will be limited by a shortage of components.

The company has appointed several hundred specialists in 50 divisions who handle procurement issues on a regular basis. The situation with the availability of about 500 components is under control, specialists are trying to find alternative supply channels or offer customers an acceptable replacement. The procurement plan is being formed for the next twelve months.

Delivery times for individual items have increased to 50 weeks – for example, in the case of audio chips and microcontrollers. Some customers are ready to pick up computers without sound controllers, since they are not always needed in the industrial sector, and customers are not ready to wait a whole year. Wait times for graphics cards have increased to 20 weeks, as is the case with power components, LCD panels, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth controllers. Basically, within 12 weeks, a PC maker can only get CPUs and memory chips.

Advantech intends to increase the cost of its products by 5% from April to justify the increased costs of purchasing components, as well as to limit ordering by customers in excess of current needs. Salespeople are now selective about ordering, trying to limit the formation of too large quantities.