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EL SEGUNDO – While the end of 2009 brought improved availability for many commodity components, supply for most parts remains tight, according to iSuppli Corp.

“Component suppliers have yet to jump in with both feet when it comes to ramping up capacity,” said Eric Pratt, vice president of pricing and competitive analysis at iSuppli “And moving forward, component manufacturers will continue to take a very conservative approach to capacity expansion.”

Inventories will remain lean for the foreseeable future. Despite days of inventory remaining close to historical lows at nine of the 10 supply chain nodes tracked by iSuppli, many suppliers have no qualms with their current inventory position and remain comfortable at current levels.

Among the nodes, only EMS providers have shown an increase in inventory, says the firm.

One reason for the lack of interest in expanding production is fourth-quarter earnings for component suppliers were exceptionally high. With earnings looking good at the moment, and suppliers having taken a beating in late 2008 and most of 2009, companies possess no reason to embark on risky expansion alternatives – including ramping up inventory – that might land them in trouble.

Nonetheless, the conservative approach to inventory won’t last, said Pratt, and component suppliers eventually will have to be more aggressive to improve market share. “As demand continues to rise and global macroeconomic trends become more visible, iSuppli believes the attitude of ‘do nothing’ will slowly change,” he said.

iSuppli predicts change will occur near the third quarter, when suppliers aim for increased market share, while at the same time maintaining the profits they had acquired in late 2009 and early 2010. The achievement of those goals, however, is contingent on sustained market demand, Pratt noted.

BANGOR, ME -- Maine Governor John Baldacci this week will sign into law the state's first extended producer responsibility framework legislation, establishing a process for creating product stewardship programs for hard-to-recycle products and packaging and moving the physical and financial responsibility for managing old products from the general taxpayer to producers and consumers.

STAMFORD, CT – The need for computing hardware will not cease, but the shift of ownership will affect every aspect of the IT hardware industry, says a top research firm.

Gartner makes that case as part of its top end-user predictions for 2010, stating by 2012, 20% of businesses will not own IT assets.

In the same year, India-centric IT service firms will represent 20% of the leading cloud aggregators in the market, and 60% of a new PC’s total life greenhouse gas emissions will have occurred before the user first turns on the machine, says the firm. Eighty percent of total PC energy consumption happens during production and transport.

Organizations will want to assess cloud computing potential for their organizations, Gartner says.

Also, Facebook will become the hub for social networks integration and Web socialization, the firm adds. The active number of Facebook users is expected to exceed one billion by the end of this year.

By 2013, cellphones will overtake PCs as the most common Web access device globally, despite the number of PCs in use reaching 1.62 billion units in 2012.

The combined installed base of smartphones and browser-equipped enhanced phones will exceed 1.69 billion units. From 2012 on, this combined installed base will be greater than the installed base for PCs.

As smartphones spread, they will overtake the PC as the most common primary device for Web access during 2015.

By 2014, most IT business cases will include carbon remediation costs, and more than three billion of the world’s adult population will be able to transact electronically via mobile and Internet.
Internet marketing will be regulated by 2015, controlling more than $250 billion in spending worldwide, the research firm states.

By 2015, context will be as influential to mobile consumer services and relationships as search engines are to the Web. Context-aware computing will have a disruptive effect on business, particularly for retailers, financial services, media, healthcare, and telecom firms, according to Gartner.

Gartner expects the usual suspects -- Google, Nokia, Apple, Microsoft, and communication service providers -- to lead the creation of these services, platforms and business ecosystems.

TAIPEI – Last week’s earthquake in Chile, the largest producer of copper, could push electronics component prices higher as a result of a sustained surge in metal prices.

Transport and electricity to the copper mines in Chile were halted after the 8.8 earthquake hit Saturday.

Copper futures rose up to 6.2% on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the most in nearly a year. Whether prices stay higher will depend on the state of the mines, infrastructure and transportation, analysts say.

Operating profit for PCBs could drop up to 14% if copper prices were to increase 10%, says Yuanta Financial Holdings, and connector profits could drop as much as 30%.