The J2 Brief

The week, read
like a trader.

Market moves, lab notes and shelf stories from the J2 desks in Malmö and Montpellier. A new brief lands every Monday.

Week 32
Monday, August 24, 2026

Hundreds of identical grey ceramic chip capacitors laid out in a strict grid on burnt-orange paper, with one empty position where a single chip is missing

Market intel

MLCCs stopped being a JIT part.
High-cap is at 26 weeks.

High-capacitance MLCCs for GPU and HBM decoupling have gone from 8 weeks to 20-26, and 26-40 on the worst codes, while the commodity 0402 10 µF next to them is up only 15-20%. What the price notices actually say, and the segmentation that replaces keeping every passive on JIT.

Read this week's brief

High-cap MLCCs are quoting 26 weeks ■ MCU lead times are back at 52 weeks ■ DDR5 is on allocation: what that means ■ Automotive silicon has its own rules ■ Stock costs money. So does not having it ■ High-cap MLCCs are quoting 26 weeks ■ MCU lead times are back at 52 weeks ■ DDR5 is on allocation: what that means ■ Automotive silicon has its own rules ■ Stock costs money. So does not having it ■

Fresh off the wire.

A brass hourglass on dark slate filled with tiny black microcontroller chips instead of sand, a thin stream of them falling under a single warm light

Market intel

The MCU queue is back. 52 weeks on STM32.

ST's July notice re-quotes the STM32 catalogue: the everyday families at 52 weeks, the oldest at 40. Why the mature nodes are starved, and five moves before your next MRP run.

August 4, 2026

A single green memory module standing in a brass stand under a spotlight on deep teal paper, an orange cord separating it from five modules lying in shadow

Market intel

DDR5 is on allocation. Here’s what that means.

Contract prices up 150 to 200% in a year, and rationed on top. Why HBM is eating the wafers, who gets served first, and six moves that keep a line running.

July 28, 2026

July 8 Automotive Automotive silicon has its own rules. June 15 Strategy Stock costs money. So does not having it May 20 Obsolescence The last-time-buy notice arrives on a Friday

EOL watch

When a part dies,
we take notes.

Every month the manufacturers quietly retire hundreds of part numbers. The EOL Watch distills the notices that matter: which last-time-buy windows are closing, and where remaining stock still lives.

PCN digests
Last-time-buy windows
Proven alternates
Where stock remains

The week, readlike a trader.

MLCCs stopped being a JIT part.High-cap is at 26 weeks.

Fresh off the wire.

The MCU queue is back. 52 weeks on STM32.

DDR5 is on allocation. Here’s what that means.

Every new brief,in your inbox.

The week, read
like a trader.

MLCCs stopped being a JIT part.
High-cap is at 26 weeks.

Every new brief,
in your inbox.