Can chips be fake? Where did a large number of fake chips come from?

Date：2021-11-29 14:28:00Views：1165

Due to the global chip shortage and limited supply, assembly plants of industrial electronics and consumer electronics are forced to purchase excess inventory chips that once circulated in the market or are now hoarded. Because these chips are usually purchased through improper channels, the risk of fake goods flowing in is very high. According to SIA statistics, American semiconductor enterprises suffer losses of US $7.5 billion each year due to counterfeit products.

Since this year, with the "core shortage tide" spreading all over the world, many industries have shown signs of chip shortage to varying degrees. Some well-known manufacturers can also pick up goods directly from their original suppliers, but the chip supply source of some small and medium-sized manufacturers began to be unstable. Due to the urgent orders, some manufacturers began to take risks and purchase chips with unknown sources. Until receiving the goods, they found that some of these chips were "fake chips".

At present, renovation and counterfeiting are not rare in the electronics industry, but people in the industry are secretive, officially act relatively low-key, and even packaging factories are involved. In fact, a long time ago, the industrial chain system of component counterfeiting had been improved. Some people began with the import of e-waste, recycling, disassembly, classification, renovation, rewinding, packaging (label, tape / tray, outer box, aluminum foil vacuum packaging bag / electrostatic bag, etc.) and then sold to the market. Such chips are mainly used in consumer electronics. Different from automobile and industry, some complete machine manufacturers of consumer electronics do not conduct long-term verification and testing of chips and their suppliers. Fake chips are easy to circulate in some products with low profits and low requirements for chip performance and technology, or in products with rapid renewal.

The performance of genuine and fake chips varies greatly. There are differences between inferior chips and genuine chips in performance indicators, while the quality assurance period of second-hand chips is shorter than that of genuine chips. If the product is updated quickly and is not in extreme use conditions, it is not easy to expose problems. Once a problem occurs, the risk and cost will be passed on to the whole machine manufacturers and consumers. For a long time, Chinese chips have been dependent on imports. The chips produced by foreign original manufacturers will eventually flow to the whole machine manufacturers through multiple links such as customs, distributors, traders and supporting suppliers. Most small and medium-sized manufacturers can not purchase from the original factory and can only choose third-party distributors. They are the largest buyers of fake chips.

In addition, semiconductor is a cyclical industry, and there is a phased supply imbalance in the components themselves. At present, there is a lack of core market, a large area of supply chain is in an unbalanced state, and a variety of components are in shortage. China has almost the world's largest electronic component Trading Distribution Center, where there are large and small businesses that disassemble tens of thousands of e-waste every day. All these provide market opportunities for fake chips. Most of them are circulated at home, and some are also circulated to overseas supply chains.

In addition, the market regulation of fake chips is also very difficult. Some industry insiders and experts also mentioned that there are a lot of fake chips, but the victimized manufacturers are often unwilling to publicly admit that they have been cheated, because it will affect the company's reputation. Therefore, it is difficult for people to make criminal charges against fake chips, especially some cases are transnational cases.

In short, the problem of fake chips may remain until the global chip supply is sufficient. But we should also realize that if the market has been conniving at the existence of fake chips and letting them go deep into the supply chain, it may eventually affect the normal operation of some large machines and even endanger the life safety of some people. The purpose of chip testing is to eliminate failure and potential failure chips in the process of design and production and prevent defective products from flowing into customers. Our testing services include: electronic component testing and verification, IC true and false identification, product design and material selection, failure analysis, function testing, factory incoming material inspection, tape braiding and other testing items. Warmly welcome to call, we will serve you wholeheartedly.