Component Compass

Supply chain disruptions become visible to procurement teams when a supplier raises a price or extends a lead time on a quotation, which is after the underlying market event has already occurred. The Component Compass is designed to surface those events at the point when a sourcing team can still act: before price increases take effect, while inventory at alternative sources is still accessible, and before a supply constraint forces a production line hold.

If a Component Compass update reports that a major NAND Flash manufacturer is reducing wafer output following a labor dispute, or that a key semiconductor supplier is implementing price increases ahead of a specific date, a procurement team managing those device families has time to assess their existing inventory runway, evaluate alternative sources, and submit RFQs while open-market stock is still available. The practical value of the Component Compass is in compressing the time between a market event and a sourcing response.

The Component Compass covers both. Manufacturer-specific updates are a regular element of each issue, including production announcements, pricing changes, supply allocation decisions, quality or production disruptions, and strategic developments at manufacturers including STMicroelectronics, Samsung, SK hynix, Nexperia, Micron, and Siemens Energy, among others. These updates are included when they carry a meaningful implication for component availability or pricing, not as general corporate news.

Broader market trend coverage is also included where it affects sourcing conditions: CHIPS Act funding redirecting domestic manufacturing investment, how AI infrastructure demand is reshaping memory allocation across the industry, and PCB cost trends driven by upstream supply dynamics. Both layers serve procurement teams: manufacturer-level news informs immediate sourcing decisions, and broader trend coverage informs longer-range planning and vendor strategy.

The two resources serve different planning horizons. The Component Compass is published biweekly and focused on near-term market events: price changes, supply disruptions, manufacturer announcements, and demand signals that affect sourcing decisions within the current planning window. It is the right resource for a procurement team that needs to stay current on conditions affecting active BOMs.

The Market Report is a quarterly deep-dive analysis of broader semiconductor and supply chain trends, covering topics such as the AI-driven memory supercycle, supply chain realignment, pricing forecasts, and lead time outlooks for the coming quarters. It is the right resource for strategic sourcing planning, informing quarterly budgeting, and understanding the structural forces shaping the market over a longer horizon. For a procurement or supply chain team managing both day-to-day sourcing and strategic planning, using both together gives the most complete picture: the Market Report sets the structural context, and the Component Compass tracks how that context is evolving between report cycles.

The Component Compass is available at no cost on ASC’s website. All published issues are accessible directly on that page in a timeline format, so teams can review both the current issue and prior updates. New issues are published biweekly. If your team relies on the Component Compass as a regular sourcing intelligence input, ASC’s website is the primary access point for each new issue as it is released.