the component market is undergoing substantial transformation. Memory prices have doubled. Enterprise SSD supply won’t normalize until late 2027 at the earliest. The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has cut off helium supply critical to chip fabrication, stalled hyperscaler data center builds, and driven freight costs high enough to break international remarketing economics. China’s rare earth export controls — with a key suspension expiring November 10, 2026 — are adding licensing friction to the same semiconductor supply chains that determine what secondary market hardware is worth.
Component Market: Hardware Demand Puts New Focus on Parts Harvesting
Electronics manufacturers are once again warning about tight supplies for parts that are deeply embedded in circuit boards. Some of those components are now quoted on months-long lead times and at clearly higher prices than a year ago.
Secondary Market: Intel boosts margins by selling what it used to scrap
Intel’s Q1 non-GAAP gross margin came in at 41%, roughly 650 basis points above the company’s own guidance. Management attributed the beat to a combination of higher volumes, favorable mix, pricing, and better 18A yields. According to industry analyst Ben Bajarin, who posted on X following the earnings call, part of the lift came from yield salvage: selling marginal silicon, much of it edge-die that would normally be binned out or scrapped rather than shipped into a usable SKU. Intel is now capturing revenue from silicon that would previously have been written down or held in reserve.
Client Note: Foundries Hike DRAM Prices as Automated Bots Sweep DDR5 Inventory
In this memo to clients, we note that the global memory market is showing an accelerated phase of tightening, driven...