FPGA Inventories/Leadtime

[Kwag]

Does anyone have any insight to what is going on with FPGA inventories. Do you have to be a select Intel partner to get parts? Standard distribution (Digikey) has nothing. When we ask leadtime the answer is on select customers are getting parts and they don't know the real leadtime. I hope an Intel FPGA person can help here. 

Here is a snap shot from digikey on Intel FPGA just checking stock and active parts

[FPGA_Pete]

Unfortunately its the reality of the times.  

We are partners for both Xilinx and Intel and having the same issues with both vendors.  We work closely as well with Arrow and Avnet and are hearing 6-9 months maybe if the starts align right and you put in a firm order now.

This is not just with FPGA families, we are also seeing issues with TI, ST, Microchip, and others.

I think right at the moment, unless you are a tier 1 customer, you are at the mercy of the scalpers, because even the Tier 1's are fighting for parts.

It's killing the small guys however, because if they can't build their products, they can't sell anything.

[raviganesh]

Yes it is definitely killing small business and I am thinking of going to premature retirement.

I have been used to Altera’s way of designing using LPM primitives, its mega plugin wizard, the AHDL or Schematic based design entry, Qsys/Platform Designer etc. that moving away is like driving a bull cart after getting used to cars. Altera is unique and unmatched in that sense.

I used to say, all those guys who boost of using vendor neutral Verilog code should have a look at the cosy life of vendor specific guys.

But today they have the last laugh. They can easily move away to say Efinix, but I cant.

imminent closure of business looms large. I have tried knocking the doors of so many suppliers. Cant get supplies to even tide of a month. The fact that there a privileged tier 1 companies and that these companies alone can survive this onslaught is disturbing.

Will I ever get a sympathetic reply form some one in Intel on this IC crisis.

[Kwag]

I am aware of shortages from all the other vendors but at least can get responses from them. Try and find how to talk to anyone at Intel and there is just generic "customer support". I know the problem exists with all semi makers but the lack of ability to have a conversation with someone from the company is frustrating. I originally used Xilinx product switched to Altera due to power performance improvements I had in my designs(20 years ago). I was concerned when Intel bought them for exact fact they would use them as support products for their server type products.

The semi-conductor industry needs to support all of us not just "Tier 1" customers. Or Engineers being what they are will find other solutions without them.

[raviganesh]

My experience dates back 25 years ago. At that time our vendor was Lattice-Vantis and our language was ABEL. It was incredible how we had to code at a flip flop level.  There was no in-system programming. It has to be done in a DataIO device, soldered or socketed on the board and tested. Any errors, desocket/desolder and repeat – life was tough.

EEPROM based PLD were getting in to obsolescence and we had to move to either Xylinx or Altera. Why we choose Altera was because of AHDL. Moving from ABEL to AHDL was a breeze. So natural. On the other had moving to VHDL had a learning and the compiler also cost a fortune at that time.

Ever since there has been no looking back from AHDL. Our IP kept building upon AHDL with schematic and Verilog here and there. Support for AHDL, the Megaplugin Wizard or the LPM primitives had not been withering. Today we are in Quartus 20.1 and our device is Cyclone 10LP and we are quite happy, but for the chip non-availability.

I have looked in Efinix. Their IP catalog is primitive. Platform Designer is non existent. Schematic entry is unheard off. One of our team mates commented, “we are anyway out of work. Instead of porting our design to vendor neutral code, we can as well design an open source AHDL plugin or a brand new Platform Designer for Efinix!!”

Jokes apart, Altera tools are great. So please give me some IC’s

[GY_Intel]

Hi, Please contact the nearest sales office. Thanks. 

[Kwag]

Can you please provide a link to local sales offices. I know Intel is here in Toronto but finding even a phone number let alone a email address is difficult.

Understanding I specifically interested in FPGA's

[FPGA_Pete]

Arrow/Vertical is the US/Canada distribution partner, but they are in the same boat. (unless you get lucky)

We've had some luck with oemstrade.com, but more than likely the only parts you will find will be in brokers at insane markups.

(We've seen $100+ for $1-$2 parts)

There are scam sites out there as well.  So be aware.

digipart.com is another possible search engine that link asian suppliers.  We haven't used them yet, so use at your own risk.

[JFK]

Please provide contact info for the Intel Sales Office in Missouri.

[raviganesh]

Thanks for the reply. It is atleast better than nothing.

I am in India and I know of no local sales.  Our regular suppliers, Digikey, Mouser are sympathetic and suggest alternates but does not work out in the short run.

I am waiting from June 2021 for this part. Please help us survive by allotting a few part to us. We are willing to pay any premium price for this.

[FPGA_Pete]

Sorry Raviganesh.  I'm a partner not a distributor, so we have now stock and are basically in the same situation as you are.

My company would not export FPGA's outside of the U.S. anyway, since that's not our business model, and something with some FPGA's at least export controls could cause issues.

I posted a couple of part search sites in the link, so best of luck.

[raviganesh]

Thankyou. As a foot note, any purchase from a new supplier with terms other that ESCROW is like buying a lottery ticket.

[FPGA_Pete]

Agreed.  We have 1 broker we trust.  Before this hit, in 2020 we were building ventilators and bought the world out of certain components, so we built up our trusted supplier list, but.  but now shortages are everywhere, so every one of our customers is trying to get parts.

Best of luck.

[GY_Intel]

Hi,

Could you contact the nearest Intel sales office?

Thanks

[Kwag]

Can you provide link? Simple google searching and looking on this site provides no email or phone number. I am in Ontario Canada

[raviganesh]

and I am in India, very near Bangalore. Don't mind if it is international sales either.

A $10 IC is sold at $150 in the black market.

Is it not a sin for you to remain mum while your customeres are being fleeced.

[ak6dn]

Welcome to the REAL WORLD.

Big companies (ie, strategic accounts) that source FPGAs (and all other devices by the way, FPGAs are not unique) have large purchasing departments and they don't normally buy thru distributors like Mouser, Digikey, etc but go directly to manufacturers like Intel/Altera, AMD/Xiline, etc AND negotiate pricing/delivery CONTRACTS. They lock up their needs well into the future. Any uncommited/unpurchased parts then make it out thru distributors to those who buy sporadically in small volume. You may not like it, but that is how the world works.

Unfair and unacceptable to you, probably true. I would feel the same. But grounds for a class action suit? Not likely.

[raviganesh]

...they don't normally buy thru distributors like Mouser, Digikey, etc

Then where is the place for Arrow, Avnet and Future Electronics the so called top 3 distributors.

[ak6dn]

Arrow, Avnet, Allied, Mouser, DigiKey, Newark are all top tier distributors.

Unless one of these distributors signs contracts to buy a certain number of parts at guaranteed delivery they won't get parts.

They will all go to large corporations that negotiate confirmed contracted purchase delivery orders.

You may not like how this works, and suggest that Intel 'hold back' some parts to supply to distributors for low-end buyers.

But that decision is up to Intel sales, and normally in my experience will go with confirmed high volume buyers first.

In the past I have seen large volume buyers contract and buy parts, then they don't need them after all, so they release them to distributors to sell.

That is not happening now.

[ak6dn]

Ciccio, nobody is laughing at you.

But you have unrealistic expectations given the current semiconductor market realities.

You are four people that have spent US$300 over four years on your project.

My definition of this is a hobby.

There are companies with dozens to hundreds of people that can't ship existing product because they can't get parts.

Not just FPGAs, but microcontrollers, memory, discrete devices. All types are under severe allocation by vendors.

So you really do need to open your eyes and look at the real world.

[raviganesh]

Has anyone tired getting hold of  the post synthesis net list (.vo or .vho) and fitting it in a competitor FPGA like Efinix uisng their fitter? Ofcouse the logic Element library has to be hacked.

The advantage is reuse of the existing code that contains a lot of “IP Catalog” components.

Or in my case where the design is in AHDL.