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Most of the attention on the 2026 component market has gone to memory, where DRAM and NAND prices have climbed sharply. A second shortage is building that gets far less coverage but touches many more products.
It is hitting the mature node parts that go into almost every build, and it has real consequences for industrial, automotive, and high reliability programs. This is not a repeat of 2021 and 2022, when nearly everything went short at once. The problem this time is narrower, and in some ways harder to plan for, because it lands on specific microcontrollers, analog chips, and power parts that take a long time to swap out and requalify.
Where the mature node shortage is concentrated
The cause is the same one driving the memory shortage. Foundries are giving their newest and most profitable capacity to AI chips, which pushes everything else further back in line. The mature 28 to 90nm processes that make microcontrollers, analog chips, power devices, and passives are the ones feeling the squeeze. A few categories stand out in particular: 32 bit automotive microcontrollers are on allocation from major suppliers, microcontroller lead times from at least one large maker have passed 55 weeks, and some power management parts are now quoted beyond 50 weeks. A number of microcontrollers are also being marked end of life partway through their normal production run, which means the part is not just hard to get, it is disappearing for good.
Prices are climbing along with lead times, and several large manufacturers raised them this spring. One major analog and embedded supplier increased affected lines by 15 to 85 percent, another raised analog prices by 15 to 30 percent, and a major European supplier raised prices on power switches and power ICs. With both lead times and prices on the move, any open purchase order or blanket agreement written before this spring should be checked against current pricing.
Building a sourcing strategy for mature node parts
The memory market leaves buyers very little room to move, but the mature node situation is different. Teams that get engineering and procurement working together early can do a lot to protect themselves, and a handful of steps make the biggest difference.
It starts with knowing where every part is made. Build a current list of the microcontrollers, analog devices, and power parts you use, where each one is made, and which ones come from only a single source on a tight process. That turns a general worry into a clear set of priorities, and it is work that belongs in your regular procurement review rather than in the rush after a part has already gone short.
Backup parts are worth qualifying before they are your only option. The worst time to start approving a second source is the week your main supplier says it cannot deliver. Doing the engineering and quality work to approve alternates for your highest risk parts ahead of time keeps your options open while you still have them.
Pricing should be locked in wherever lead times allow. With several suppliers raising prices and some parts quoted more than a year out, long term agreements and locked pricing protect your budget and your schedule at the same time. Checking current pricing against your existing agreements also catches the increases that can slip through on an older blanket order.
End-of-life notices call for a planned buy rather than an emergency. When a microcontroller or analog part is marked end-of-life, base your final order on what the program will actually need over its remaining life rather than on what you are using today. Obsolescence management is what turns these moments from a fire drill into a planned purchase.
Parts bought outside normal channels need to be verified. When a part can only be found on the open market or through another network, that supply can keep your line running, as long as you check it before it goes into production. Component authentication and electrical testing let you use every channel available without taking on extra risk, which matters most in high reliability work where one bad part can bring down an entire assembly.
The mature node shortage will not make the same headlines as memory, but for most manufacturers it is the bigger near term risk, because these parts sit in almost everything they build. The companies that handle the next few quarters best will keep a current view of which parts are at risk, qualify backups before they are forced to, and work with sourcing partners who can find hard to get parts across different regions and confirm that what they ship is the real thing.
Dealing with allocation or long lead times on a microcontroller, analog, or power part? Submit an RFQ and put A2 Global’s worldwide sourcing network to work for your next build.
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