https://www.prosoundnetwork.com/business/akm-factory-fire-shakes-up-pro-audio-industry
Luckily, we are talking about regular CMOS rather than BiCMOS or thin film with laser trimming, so hopefully they can switch to foundries. Still a major disaster for the numerous small companies offering decent DACs these days. At least on the high end, CS and TI seem to have given up, so AKM and ever difficult ESS are the ones pushing frontiers. And even AKM has been slipping, with the obsolete AK5394A beeing the pinnacle of low distortion ADCs and later offerings optimized for S/N rather than distortion.
Luckily, we are talking about regular CMOS rather than BiCMOS or thin film with laser trimming, so hopefully they can switch to foundries. Still a major disaster for the numerous small companies offering decent DACs these days. At least on the high end, CS and TI seem to have given up, so AKM and ever difficult ESS are the ones pushing frontiers. And even AKM has been slipping, with the obsolete AK5394A beeing the pinnacle of low distortion ADCs and later offerings optimized for S/N rather than distortion.