Currently, the company reports ample capacity and eight-week lead times in most cases. We're a fabless semiconductor company that has a strategic relationship with three different foundries, Raun said. We're doubling our shipments from quarter to quarter, and we plan to have 10 times our current capacity by next year. Shortages have purchasers focusing on ensuring that designs accommodate more than one brand of flash chip. Calif. Over the last six months or so, though, we've gotten together with engineers and built a partnership to get them to spec in other brands and use other speeds so their margins didn't skyrocket.
Flash presents a couple of unique challenges to multiple sourcing.
Finding drop-in replacements is much harder than with other memory products. This can be traced partly to the use of electronic IDs, which allow an electronics manufacturer's code to be stored on the device. Converting to a different code can be a time-consuming process. This creates some issues for people, Young said. In a shortage, people find ways to make that change.