In March, as the temperature gradually warms up, inquiries in the chip market seem to have slightly increased, although there is no obvious recovery yet. This month, the demand for MCUs appears to have eased, the popularity of 8-bit, 32-bit, and even 16-bit MCUs has started to rise. Additionally, benefiting from the growth in AI demand, the prices of certain switch chips from Broadcom have also seen an increase.
Below are eight popular chips we selected from the past month (model numbers):
1. Switch chip costing over ten thousand: “BCM56990B0KFLGG”
2. Recent “hot item”: “MAX13487EESA+T”
3. ADC chip costing over a thousand: “LTC2174IUKG-14#PBF”
4. High-demand switch converter: “MP9943GQ-Z”
5. Is MCU demand rising? “STM32F0x0 series”
6. The “rising” 16-bit MCU: “DSPIC30F2010-301/SP”
7. Price-increasing 8-bit MCU: “ATMEGA2560-16AU”
8. Discontinued item with price fluctuations: “ULN2803ADWR”
NO.1 Switch chip costing over ten thousand
BCM56990B0KFLGG:
Significant price increase after the new year
Broadcom’s switch chip has once again increased in popularity in the market this month, with the price of BCM56990B0KFLGG being around 4000 USD before the new year, and it has recently risen to over 4000 USD.
The BCM56990 series is a type of high-radix, high-bandwidth network switching device from Broadcom, supporting up to 64×400GbE, 128×200GbE, 256×100GbE, 256×40GbE, 256×25GbE, or 256×10GbE ports. The BCM56990 provides high bandwidth of up to 25.6 Tb/s on a single chip, ensuring seamless network connectivity, utilizing 7nm technology.
Applications include: single-chip solutions for data center aggregation and backbone switches, fixed data center and Chassis/Modular switches, deep learning networks, and NVMe storage decomposition, etc.
The BCM56990 belongs to the Tomahawk4 series within the StrataXGS product line, which provides the highest integration and bandwidth switching solutions in the market. The Tomahawk series is designed for scenarios involving large-scale cloud networks, storage networks, and HPC.
Comparison of Tomahawk series chips, source: CSDN user @ flandre翠花
Since last year, there have been numerous inquiries about Broadcom switch chips in the market. The automotive Ethernet chip BCM89811 series rose from 35 RMB in May to 400 RMB in July. Later, the demand for AI server PCle Switch chips in the SS26 series also surged, with prices soaring from 5500 USD to 20000 USD.
Currently, the prices of Broadcom’s automotive chips have returned to their original levels, but due to the increase in demand for AI servers, data centers, GPUs, etc., related chips have benefited.
NO.2 Recent “hot item”
MAX13487EESA+T:
Sudden price increase
MAX13487EESA+T is the recent “hot item” in the market, with third-party websites showing this month’s price at 20 RMB, with market quotes reaching 30 RMB, while friends in the market were inquiring about this item at 16-17 RMB in January. ADI’s official website shows a price of 2.09 USD (approximately 15.05 RMB).
MAX13487E series is a +5V powered, half-duplex RS-485/RS-422 compatible transceiver from Maxim, featuring one driver and one receiver. Major applications: automatic HVAC systems, industrial control, industrial motor drives, isolated RS-485 interfaces, and electric meters, etc.
This item has been slowly increasing in price since July 2023, and suddenly gained popularity this year. Last December, the price was still 7 RMB, and in January it had risen to 18 RMB. In the current market, few items have seen such rapid price increases, with some market friends stating “selling means profit”. Additionally, due to the rapid price increase, some customers have started looking for domestic alternatives.
NO.3 ADC chip costing over a thousand
LTC2174IUKG-14#PBF:
Increased market demand
This item has seen increased demand this month, with market quotes around 1100-1200 RMB.
LTC2174-14 is a 14-bit, 105Msps low-power four-channel high-speed ADC chip designed for digital processing of high-frequency, wide dynamic range signals. Major applications: communications, cellular base stations, software-defined radio, portable medical imaging, multi-channel data acquisition, non-destructive testing, etc.
According to third-party websites, this item remained at 650 RMB until August 2023 before starting to increase in price, rising to 1500 RMB in October-November 2023. Current quotes have slightly decreased but still show a significant difference from previous prices.
NO.4 High-demand switch converter
MP9943GQ-Z: Price inversion improvement
MP9943GQ-Z has seen a price decrease this month to 3.5 RMB, with e-commerce platform prices around 10 RMB.
MP9943 is a high-frequency synchronous rectification buck converter with built-in power MOSFET from MPS. Major applications: consumer goods, multi-function printers (MFP), and distributed power systems, etc.
Naming convention:
Parts numbered ending with P and Z are the same parts; P and Z only indicate roll sizes.
This item has mostly been priced below 2 RMB throughout 2023, but began increasing in price from November 2023, reaching 6 RMB in January 2024 before starting to decline. Friends in the market stated that the previous price of over 1 RMB was “too low”, was an inverted price, and not a normal price. At the same time, it has been reported that there is significant demand for this item in the market.
NO.5 Is MCU demand rising?
STM32F0x0 series: Slight price increase
STM32F030C8T6 and STM32F030K6T6 have appeared on multiple platforms’ hot search lists this month, with STM32F030C8T6 maintaining a price of 2.6 RMB, while STM32F030K6T6 has slightly risen from 2.2 RMB last month to 2.5 RMB this month.
STM32F0x0 microcontrollers utilize the Arm® Cortex®-M0 core, achieving a processing speed of up to 48 MHz. The STM32F0x0 series is the lowest-priced product in the STM32 range, featuring a full set of peripherals such as high-speed 12-bit ADCs, advanced and flexible timers, calendar RTC, and communication interfaces (such as I²C, USART, SPI, and USB).
Source: ST official website
This month, the demand for ST’s MCUs has slightly increased. The STM32F103, 405, and 407 series, which usually dominate the hot search lists, continue to maintain popularity, with the STM32F030 standing out this month, as both part numbers have seen increased interest.
NO.6 The “rising” 16-bit MCU
DSPIC30F2010-301/SP:
Three consecutive weeks of rising popularity
This item has seen three consecutive weeks of rising search popularity, although the price has slightly decreased to around 35 RMB compared to last month.
Microchip’s high-performance 16-bit digital signal controller. As of March 19, 2024, searching on the Microchip official website shows that the current supply is 20 units, and orders not exceeding 20 can be shipped on March 21, 2024, with additional quantities to be shipped on May 9, 2024.
This item is a 16-bit MCU from Microchip, and the current mainstream application market is mostly dominated by 8-bit and 32-bit MCUs, leading to a low presence of 16-bit MCUs. Compared to DSPIC30, Microchip’s DSPIC33 and DSPIC24 series seem to appear more frequently.
NO.7 Price-increasing 8-bit MCU
ATMEGA2560-16AU:
Slight increase over 60 RMB
ATMEGA2560-16AU has seen a slight increase to 61 RMB this month, with the Microchip official website showing a price of 14.49 USD (approximately 104.32 RMB).
This item is an AVR 8-bit high-performance low-power MCU from ATMEL (acquired by Microchip), utilizing RISC architecture and 256KB flash memory. The suffix A indicates that the microcontroller uses TQFP packaging, and the suffix U indicates that the microcontroller has an “industrial” temperature range.
Third-party websites show that this item rose to 120 RMB in March 2022, fell to 50 RMB in July 2022, and has not fluctuated much since. In December 2023, the ATMEGA128A series, another 8-bit AVR microcontroller, was reported to be “somewhat out of stock” in the market.
Additionally, the Microchip official website shows that as of March 19, 2024, ordering the ATMEGA2560-16AU can be shipped on May 9, 2024.
NO.8 Discontinued item with price fluctuations
ULN2803ADWR: Recent price stability
ULN2803ADWR has maintained a price of 12 RMB this month, consistent with last month, and this chip, which has seen significant price fluctuations in recent months, is currently more stable.
ULN2803ADWR is an 8-channel Darlington array chip from TI, featuring high voltage and high current output. Major applications: relay drivers, hammer drivers, lamp drivers, display drivers (LEDs and gas discharge), line drivers, logic buffers, stepper motors, IP cameras, HVAC valves, and LED dot matrices, etc.
This item is a discontinued part from TI, which was also highly sought after last year. TI issued a discontinuation notice for this item in December 2022, and it is no longer searchable on the TI official website. According to responses in the TI forum, TI has stated that they are transitioning to the ULN2803C series.
There have been reports that the demand shortage caused by the discontinuation of this chip may continue into 2024, with customers seeking alternatives to fill the gap to meet production needs in 2024.
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The prices mentioned in the article are sourced from third-party websites and e-commerce platforms, and are for reference only.
