Arrow Electronics has taken an equity stake in the Virtual Chip Exchange, as the service launches worldwide. No details of the amount of equity was given, but it is a minority investment. Stephen Kaufman, Arrow's CEO, said: "We recognise the potential of the Interent in facilitating the resale of excess inventories...traditional distributors are not equipped to solve this problem for customers today." VCE started last year and is listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. It estimates there is $30 billion of excess component stock with millions of different part numbers. Since its launch last November, VCE has registered 1100 members and has revenues worth an estimated $1 million a month. ®