Unconventional suppliers adding to fake chip problem

Update: August 6, 2023

 Oki Engineering, a subsidiary of Oki Electric, has been providing a chip verification service since June, reports the Nikkei.

The service is designed, says Oki, “to verify the performance and reliability of semiconductors for users willing to buy from unconventional suppliers as long as their capacity is unchanged.”

By August it had got 150 customers and Oki’s 20 engineers were finding fakes in 30% of the cases submitted to them.

Common indications of a fake are:

. the index mark engraved on the package to show the direction of installation can be wrongly positioned.

. there are abnormalities in the lead frame. 

. the numbers pressed into the upper part of the package to show the date of production have been changed.

Some of the fakes are chips taken out of discarded electronic equipment and passed off as new.

Some are chips that failed to meet quality standards.

Some have changed the manufacturer’s name or model number on the package.