Fake chips bedevil Asian supply chains

What’s worse than the global shortage of semiconductors? Probably an excess of fake chips. Counterfeit and substandard chips are penetrating the supply chain, as technology-hungry companies usually take the risk that they may not need to meet demand.

Fake chips have plagued the Asian electronics industry. Responding to this, Japanese company Oki Engineering provides chip verification services to help manufacturers remove counterfeit semiconductors before putting them in their devices.

There are many horror stories. A Japanese manufacturer turned to e-commerce giant Alibaba, unable to procure semiconductors from regular channels due to a global chip shortage. But when the chips arrived, they didn’t turn on.

The Oki engineering scene suggests the scope of the problem. A stable stream of suspicious components flowed into the company’s Tokyo office, where nearly 20 engineers conducted a series of tests using lasers, microscopes, X-rays and other equipment. Inspection includes melting the chip package or outer casing to inspect the manufacturer’s logo, and examining silicon chip trace patterns and other physical properties.

Oki started the inspection service in June, and as of August have received about 150 inquiries, most of which are from manufacturers of industrial machinery and medical equipment. After investigating about 70 cases, inspectors found problematic chips in 30% of them.

Conclusion: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., one of the world’s leading semiconductor manufacturers, predicts that chip shortages will continue until around 2023. As that scenario is becoming more and more likely, chip-intensive electronics manufacturers must be vigilant.

By: Jules Menten

From:  https://californianewstimes.com/fake-chips-bedevil-asian-supply-chains/532409/