Lead time pressure is spreading beyond memory, but not evenly

Sourceability’s latest lead time report describes pressure spreading from memory into microcontrollers and passives. The differences between component families and specifications are as important as the headline increases.

The distributor reports 27 price increase notices from 20 major manufacturers. Selected STMicroelectronics MCU families have reached quoted lead times of 52 weeks, while its interconnect assessment remains comparatively stable despite extensions at some suppliers. These are observations from a commercial market report, rather than a single delivery schedule applying to the industry.

The passive component figures need particular care. Sourceability cites standard MLCC lead times of roughly 14–18 weeks, compared with five to ten months for high-specification products and approximately 40 weeks for some Samsung Electro-Mechanics parts.

Following that citation back reveals an August TrendForce News report, which in turn draws on named publications and distributor availability data. The figures help explain the background to the latest report. They should not be presented as fresh October measurements of every supplier’s current factory lead time.

### A shortage can sit inside an otherwise available category

The practical distinction is specification. A broadly available capacitor family does not solve a shortage of the capacitance, voltage rating, package and dielectric needed on a particular board. Nor does stock of one MCU variant establish availability of the required memory configuration or temperature grade.

That makes a category-wide shortage label a blunt planning tool. A bill of materials can contain hundreds of comfortably available lines and still have one component setting the assembly date. Equally, a long published lead time does not establish that no authorised distributor holds stock.

An effective assessment separates three things: material already available against the required part number, delivery commitments for the intended quantity, and the engineering work needed to use an alternative. Combining them into a single red or green component category hides the actual constraint.

There is also a difference between an expensive part and a replaceable one. A relatively cheap passive can prevent shipment if its substitute changes electrical performance or requires board qualification. The cost of that disruption will not be visible in its unit price.

Sourceability’s report supports a more selective account of supply pressure. The immediate story is the widening set of potentially constrained components, together with the variation inside each category. It does not establish a universal return to the shortages of the previous cycle.

Sourceability Q3 2026 report highlights. Underlying August MLCC report and its attributions.