Press Release Q2 2004

European Semiconductor Distribution Market goes double-digit  

DMASS reports 19 percent increase in semiconductor sales to the industrial channel in the second quarter of 2004. All markets participate in upswing. Major markets remain divided. Growth leaders are Israel, Eastern Europe and Iberia.

London, Aug 13, 2004 - The European semiconductor distribution market showed a healthy second quarter and further stabilised its positive development in 2004. According to DMASS, semiconductor distribution sales from April to June 2004 amounted to 1,22 Billion Euro, a growth of 18,8% over Q2/CY 03. The traditionally slower Q2 even beat Q1/CY 04 by 1%. 

DMASS Chairman Pierre-Yves Ferrard commented on the development: "2004 seems to turn into a very healthy year for semiconductor distribution. The first two quarters have been very promising. What is even more positive is the fact that the typical seasonal slowdown of Q2 over Q1 has not happened. It remains to be seen how strong the current cycle really is. Bookings and lead-times appear to go back to normal, after a period of over-heating."

Regionally, the strongest growth happened in Israel, Poland, Emerging Eastern European Countries and Iberia, with growth rates between 73 and 44 percent over the comparable quarter of last year. Among the big four markets, France grew fastest with 21,8% (125 M Euro), followed by Germany with 17,2% (348 Million Euro), Italy with 12,3% (171 Million Euro) and the UK with 6,9% (154 Million Euro). Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland and Benelux grew between 26 and 16%.

Pierre-Yves Ferrard: "Western European markets continue to stabilise and grow healthily again. We sincerely hope that the erosion of electronics production does not continue as it had over the last two years."

Product-wise, semiconductor sales as represented by DMASS, grew by double digits in all major categories. Growth leader once again were Memories with 50% (DRAMs and Flash-Memories), Analog with 18%, Optoelectronics with 16,8% and Discretes with 16,5%. More specifically, of the mainstream products, LEDs (38%) and EEPROMs (+28%) grew fastest, followed by Standard Analog and Power FETs. The only "disappointing" product segment were Digital Signal Processors with a growth of 7,4%.

About DMASS

DMASS (Distributors' and Manufacturers' Association of Semiconductor Specialists), a European non-profit organisation, is the only industry body that collates detailed semiconductor distribution market data on a quarterly basis by country and product groups such as microcontrollers, flash memories, analog components and many more. DMASS figures are collected and consolidated by Data Dynamics Ltd.

DMASS, founded in 1989, provides its members with a reliable statistical tool to evaluate their relative mass-market performance. The organisation currently consists of 30 active members and represents between 70% and 80% of the total European distribution market, depending on the regions. To continuously increase its European market coverage, DMASS welcomes new membership applications from distributors and semiconductor manufacturers.