Inside the Data Center Boom and the Component Supply Ecosystem

How would you describe the state of the industry? Are we recovering? Are we in a reset? Or is this a fundamentally new operating environment that we find ourselves in?

I think it's fundamentally different.

I see it more intelligent-driven manufacturing ecosystem.

I mean, I think...

AI is a big topic for everyone, and how are we using AI to help predict demand curves? How are we using it for supply chain optimization? Where do we build it at? Do we build it in Asia? Do we build it in Europe? Do we build it in the US? It's definitely changing.

We're certainly seeing more manufacturing here in the United States as well.

It's certainly changing.

I think over the next few years, success is not going to be just by scale alone.

It's how you can predict the demand curves and supply that.

They're going to shift because we're going through this mega trend of electrification and data center booms.

How do you support that? It's going to be very exciting for the next two to three years as I see from a manufacturing standpoint.

And I'd like to double click on something that you just touched on with measuring that demand and understanding that supply-demand balance.

What is that looking like today? Is there any certain indicators that stand out to you that are maybe the most important in getting a better handle on future demand visibility?

Yeah, it's a tough one.

I mean, as a manufacturer, we commonly look at the book to bill ratio.

So anything greater than one is positive, but we're seeing substantially greater than one, the book to bill.

So trying to manage that excess orders that you didn't plan on is significant.

The manufacturers that can be adaptive and move quickly to support that unpredicted demand are the ones that are going to win.

Because it's just so much demand out there now being driven by the data center ecosystem from all those suppliers that are supporting that industry.

That's the

challenge.

The electronic component industry has just come out of a recent cycle.

It seems like we're entering a new cycle.

Has there been any lessons learned along the way in maybe this new environment that we find ourselves in? Are people doing things a little bit differently this time around?

Yeah, I'd say from our standpoint, from a wide point of view, and also the electronic, I think we can't just rely on one super region like Asia to produce all our products.