Intellectual property crime is on the rise right now as companies around the global scramble to fill the gaps left by an ongoing semiconductor chip shortage. Taking advantage of a situation that’s left many of these organizations managing order lead times of up to 52 weeks or more, counterfeiters are currently flooding the market with dangerous knock-off options that procurement professionals should avoid at all costs.
The allure of these knock-offs—which, of course, aren’t identified as such—can be strong in a marketplace where demand for chips is extremely high and supply is at all-time lows. A recent U.S. Department of Commerce report found that demand for chips was up to 17% higher in 2021 versus 2019, and that the median inventory of semiconductor products fell from 40 days in 2019 to less than 5 days in 2021 (these inventories are even smaller in certain industries).
