Press Release Q1 2007
European Semiconductor Distribution Market (DMASS) returns to normal growth rates in Q1/2007
A 4,8% growth in the first quarter, topping the record levels of 2006. Eastern Europe, Benelux, Nordic, Switzerland and Germany grow over-proportionally. Discrete, Analog, MCUs and SRAMs outperform market.
London, May, 21, • After a record year for growth in 2006, the start of 2007 experienced a slowdown. Rates came back to single digits compared to all time high sales levels of 2006, which can still be considered a success. According to DMASS (Distributors’ and Manufacturers’ Association of Semiconductor Specialists), the semiconductor distributor and manufacturer members achieved a quarterly growth of 4.8% to 1.48 Billion Euro. The sequential comparison (to Q4/06) shows an increase of sales of 14.5%.
Anne Vernay, Chairwoman of DMASS, commented: “Despite the cyclical slowdown, distribution is still outperforming the OEM market and growing its overall share of the TAM (Total Available Market). The real challenge is ahead of us, 2007 has been re-evaluated by most market researchers due to a softer environment. It remains to be seen if distribution can fight the total market trend and grow its share again significantly. Nevertheless, DMASS is pleased to widen its representation of the total market, with the addition of two new members, one from the distribution side (Azzurri) and one from the manufacturers’ side (Lattice Semiconductor).”
While the total DMASS numbers were relatively positive, the regional trend shows a different picture. Germany grew again over-proportionally by 9.8%, France and UK turned negative (-3.6% respectively -6.6%) and Italy stayed almost flat (0.8%). In total the German market has reached record levels of 491 Million € or one third of DMASS’ totals, and again bigger than UK (146 Million €), France (129 Million €) and Italy (201 Million €) together. The big regional winners of the last quarter were Poland (41%), Russia (30%), Benelux (24.4%), Switzerland (15.3%) and Norway (14.7%). Eastern Europe is on its way to catch up with the UK and to become the 3rd largest sales region, after Germany and Italy.
Anne Vernay: “Germany benefits from its improving economics which drives export of highly sophisticated equipment that in turn is produced by many distribution minded customers. Eastern Europe increasingly benefits from its domestic markets and is becoming more than just a prolonged workbench for Western Europe. The market developments in Benelux and Nordic were very positive, predominantly having turned into design regions already.”
By product sectors, Discrete (9.7%), Analog (7.1%) and to some extent Opto products (5%) drove the quarterly development. The dominant single product segments are Standard Analog which grew 10.2% to 311 Million €, and Microcontrollers which went up 8% to 255 Million €. The highest growth rates by product were achieved by SRAMs (33.5%), Power FET (16.2%) and Small Signal Products (10.7%). The biggest decline could be found within Other MOS Logic (-21.9%), LED Displays (-11.3%), EEPROMs (-11.1%) and Microprocessors (-11%).
Vernay concluded: “The product picture at this point in time is a bit inconclusive. It seems that some special areas of mature products are more affected than others. On a positive note, the strongest categories Standard Analog and Microcontrollers grew very nicely and Programmable Logic also held up. These are design-intensive, ubiquitous technologies across the board and represent almost 50% of the DMASS sales. This is also a good sign that distribution drives more than just commodities.”
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 31 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.