My MCU is out of stock worldwide? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Saimoun
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 20, 2021, 12:33:53 pm
content: HiSo I have this project which I hope to sell 1000 units of soon. Many months ago I decided to go with an STM8L151 MCU because it's great hardware with many fonctionality for very cheap!My aim was for the STM8L151G6U6TR which has everything I need for <$1 per unit (at 1000). But at this point I am happy to get anything which starts with STM8L151 and has at least 32kB of flash memory. Changing the MCU type/brand is really the last resort as it would mean months of work (code) down the drainI am manufacturing and assembling the electronics in China, and the MCU is really difficult for them to get. I just got a quote from NextPCB saying they can get the STM8L151G6U6TR for $25 per unit. Mouser and Digikey seem out of stock of pretty much any STM8L151.So I come to you (again) for help!How would you handle such a situation?Thank you!Simon

author: SMTech
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 20, 2021, 01:06:44 pm
content: Octopart shows a few chinese sourcing/brokers with access to stock and right at the bottom of the list is Abacushttps://www.abacuselect.com/search/?q=STM8L151G6U6TR&utm_source=octopartwho are at least a proper seller you might know.

author: Saimoun
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 20, 2021, 02:31:49 pm
content: Ok thank you that helps a lot! I wrote to Abascus to hear if they can deliver to ShenzhenI actually did not know about Octopart - I think I found something similar before but it was only accessible for companies and at a quite high price.How do you know Abascus is a chinese broker?

author: SMTech
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 20, 2021, 09:37:52 pm
content: Oh they are not, but I'm pretty sure the other guys on the list are. Abacus are a proper distributor we we use/used at work, not that I get involved in that side of things.

author: KL27x
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 21, 2021, 12:19:10 am
content: Thank goodness I saw this thread.I was barely able to buy enough micros to populate a big PCB order I'm putting in, now. Well, I have shipping confirmation on half the order. I'm still waiting on the other order, but so far, so good.Lead times are nuts. 1 year lead times?I wonder if the internet just saved me, or if it creates these shortages by increasing the panic level? I've never seen a shortage on this particular part, before.

author: ANTALIFE
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 21, 2021, 12:47:38 am
content: https://www.netcomponents.com/results.htm?d=1&flts=1&t=f&sm=&r=1&lgc=begins&pn1=STM8L151https://www.netcomponents.com/results.htm?d=1&flts=1&t=f&sm=&r=1&lgc=begins&pn1=STM8L151G6U6TR

author: Saimoun
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 21, 2021, 07:21:21 am
content: @SMTech: ok I understand. I do not know any of these so no way to find out if they are china-based. But I'm ok paying a bit more to import it in China anyways, it's nice to see some companies still have some stock!@KL27x: very interesting! Which micro are you using, and where did you order it from?@ANTALIFE: Oh yea that was the company I found before - unfortunately $120/month is way out of my budget for now (I'm not even a company (yet) and this is my first product), and a lot of money to find one part. I'll definitely consider it in the future though

author: DIYGUY Chris
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: April 24, 2021, 12:54:55 am
content: Maybe you want to check resellers on LinkedIn, many Chinese resellers are there and they could provide the part I guess

author: 48X24X48X
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 24, 2021, 07:09:49 am
content: Quote from: SMTech on April 20, 2021, 09:37:52 pmThey didn't get back to me after I submitted a quote request on their website. It has been few days since. Is that their "normal" timeline?

author: Saimoun
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 24, 2021, 07:56:20 am
content: Same here - I have not heard from them yet. They do say on their website they reply when they can and that it might take a while.

author: Jeroen3
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 24, 2021, 02:01:39 pm
content: There is global shortage of parts. Anyone claiming having said parts nobody else has without asking 10x the price is lying.I got an email from octopart with this graph in it, and it shows that it's just gone. This applies to basically all parts. And will be for raw materials as well end of summer. (wood, plastics)Best you can do now is pre-order.

author: AndyC_772
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 24, 2021, 09:26:04 pm
content: Anyone know why STM32 seems particularly badly hit by the shortage?

author: Jeroen3
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 25, 2021, 02:09:20 pm
content: Quote from: AndyC_772 on April 24, 2021, 09:26:04 pmI can only guess. They sella lotof variants. So it's already difficult to restockeach familyat small supply chain disruptions, which is then multiplied by the split into many package variants and memory bins.I'm not sure if they make the micro's in their own fabs.

author: floobydust
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 26, 2021, 01:44:50 am
content: "Strike action has begun {Nov. 5 2020} at ST following a decision by management not to give a raise to all employees, despite recording Q3 revenues 27.8% up on Q2 for a gross profit of $1 billion and a forecast of 12% sequential profit for Q4." 2020 "CGT union points out that the 100 senior executives of ST in France receive on average € 200,000 per year with € 50,000 free shares."ST CEO gets +28.5% for one year or $1.28M increase for 2020, to $5.74M see cartoonIt involves three unions and a lot of anger at the company. French unions keep pointing out ST profits and exec wages and perks.I'm not sure if the strike is still going on?https://www.cad-st.org/-001-les-sites-stmicro-

author: Saimoun
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 26, 2021, 09:19:31 am
content: OkaaaayyFrench people demonstrating against horrible management... Sounds familiar!!Gosh that explains a lot of things - and in my case I guess they sell the STM8 a lot less than their STM32, so it will probably be the last one to be restocked...Next project I am definitely going to try GigaDevices - china for the win(and I am French myself)

author: 1276-2449-1-ND
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: April 26, 2021, 11:46:55 am
content: Does ST sell direct?I had the same problem with a Microchip part, but ordered it through Microchip Direct and even though it was backordered almost a year I got them a month later. It wasn't even a big order -- just a couple hundred ICs.

author: Saimoun
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 26, 2021, 01:09:29 pm
content: Thanks for the advice)I have not looked much into it, and when/if I do the idea will be to use them and learn them like I would with any other MCU brand, not as a direct STM32 replacement

author: Saimoun
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 26, 2021, 01:52:54 pm
content: So I'm trying to order 10 prototypes from NextPCB. Price is 600$. And $250 of that is... the STM8L151G6U6, chosen for its lovely market price of $0.75 in quantities

author: Saimoun
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 27, 2021, 07:58:06 am
content: Ha ha - just went through all posts of that threadhttps://www.eevblog.com/forum/chat/stmicroelectronics-shortage/You guys are funnayBut also, seriously, very interesting thread to read - I am genuinely considering throwing away 3 months of work on the code for that STM8 and switch to another MCU... I was thinking going to Atmel, but it seems Atmel has been just as little reliable in the past.And the irony of switching to a GD32 will be the huge amount of processing power that I really do not need - a small (and cheap) 8-bit MCU was all I needed for this project.

author: exe
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: April 27, 2021, 10:05:01 am
content: Quote from: simonlasnier on April 27, 2021, 07:58:06 amWell, may be extra processing power may help saving development efforts?

author: olkipukki
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 27, 2021, 12:37:04 pm
content: Quote from: simonlasnier on April 27, 2021, 07:58:06 amDid you consider Silabs EFM8?Quote from: simonlasnier on April 27, 2021, 07:58:06 amIt looks like a new normal, just buy reels of same IC, regardless if you keep half unpopulated pins and low percentage RAM/storage utilization.The promising dev savings exceed a few dozen pennies saved for "nice fit" MCU

author: Bassman59
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 27, 2021, 04:21:19 pm
content: Quote from: simonlasnier on April 27, 2021, 07:58:06 amSiLabs EFM8 work well and are well-supported. Or you could jump to one of their EFM32 parts based on the Cortex-M0+ core.

author: ebclr
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 27, 2021, 10:16:57 pm
content: Since China still in the wordhttps://s.taobao.com/search?q=STM8L151G6U6TR&type=p&tmhkh5=&spm=a21wu.241046-global.a2227oh.d100&from=sea_1_searchbutton&catId=100

author: mikeselectricstuff
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 27, 2021, 10:50:26 pm
content: Quote from: simonlasnier on April 20, 2021, 12:33:53 pmSeriously? months to change MCU? Is it all written in assembler...?

author: Microdoser
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 27, 2021, 11:25:02 pm
content: Quote from: AndyC_772 on April 24, 2021, 09:26:04 pmNot just the STM32. ATMega 328P, BME280, mosfets, resistors, even battery clips are on backorder.

author: wilhe_jo
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: April 28, 2021, 07:24:57 am
content: Well, I think "months" are a reasonable timrspan for changing a mcu...2 weeks to adapt a design, 2 to have the PCBs, 1 week to get the firmware really running on the new board and ship it to test users + maybe 1 month for testing.May depend on the product, but 1-2 months would be quick I guess...I worked on products where you need an NRTL mark... that's 3-6 from telling them that you would need an assessment to the date where they show up to testify that everything is fine...73

author: Saimoun
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 28, 2021, 07:47:13 am
content: For those who might wonder - I actually found a different supplier on alibaba and ended up getting my MCU at $13 / unit, that was the best I could get for these prototypes.This supplier said they expect prices to go back to normal in 1-2 years time.So for the production batch I will have to investigate other options probably, thinking the price might even go higher until then.@ebclr: I do not have a taobao account, how much were they there?As for the programming time, well I might also have gone overboard, I spent a lot of time optimising the code, both size and speed-wise, so yes a lot of it is in Assembly. But ironically I can see it was a waste of time now since it is easier and just as cheap to get a much more powerful MCU - then no need for optimising

author: Saimoun
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 28, 2021, 02:48:49 pm
content: Yea that would have been a lot cheaper...I do not know how much I would trust the sellers on taobao to sell genuine parts though... What do you guys think?

author: Saimoun
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 29, 2021, 07:55:59 am
content: Ok thank you blueskull - nice to know!

author: Saimoun
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 29, 2021, 10:48:57 am
content: So I could not help myself and had a look for the cheap GD32 - it seems the GD32F130 or GD32E230 series would suit me very well. These are just GREAT for the price! Gosh I wished I would have looked at them earlier.One thing I will definitely miss is the integrated EEPROM in the STM8L151, I do not think any GD32 model has one - unless you can simulate it using the flash (I'll still need to write to it regularly, say under heavy usage about 500 writes in a day)?Also, looking at the availability of these chips it seems they suffer a similar shortage as the ST ones?