European Semiconductor Distribution (DMASS) Starts Solidly into 2019

DMASS reports 8.4% semiconductor growth in Q1/2019. Over-proportional increase in Scandinavia, Benelux and partially Eastern Europe. Discretes, Power, Sensors and Memories among main drivers.

London, June 7, 2019 – Two record years in a row, with 2018 displaying signs of severe allocation, made distribution hungry for more. And at least in Q1/CY19 the appetite was satisfied. European semiconductor distribution sales grew by 8.4% to 2.5 Billion Euro, an all-time record.

Georg Steinberger, chairman of DMASS: “Amazing that our industry could deliver another record, after eight quarters solidly above 2 Billion Euro of consolidated sales. We recognize the fact that much of the current growth is driven from a solid backlog and expect the growth to come down through the year, as many members see the booking situation weakening as we speak.”

At country and region level, the growth in Q1 was uneven throughout states and regions. While the major countries (UK, Germany, France and Italy) barely scratched the average growth, some countries in Scandinavia and Eastern Europe literally exploded in double-digit increase. Germany grew by 5.1% to 742 Million Euro, Italy shrank by 1.4% to 219 Million Euro, France grew by 8% to 172 Million Euro, UK (without Ireland) by 5.9% to 159 Million Euro, Eastern Europe by 10% to 407 Million Euro and Scandinavia by 32% to 250 Million Euro.“

Georg Steinberger: “The numbers show some unusual effects in various countries with a significant contract manufacturing business, but in general it looks like the major economies are taking the lion’s share of the current slowdown effects. If this is a trend for the rest of the year remains to be seen.”

Product-wise, the major growth came in selective product areas like Discretes, Power, Sensors, Memories and Other Logic, but not across all countries. The closest to a reasonable interpretation is that Opto struggled, Analog stuck close to the average and specifically Memories, Discretes and Sensors drove double-digit increases. Analog products grew 10.5% to 739 Million Euro, MOS Micro shrank 0.1% to 478 Million Euros, Power grew 11.7% to 278 Million Euros, Memories (+15.8% to 227 Million Euro) overtook Opto (1.5% to 220 Million Euro), Programmable Logic grew 5.8% to 166 Million Euro and Other Logic by 23% to 138 Million Euro.

Georg Steinberger: “The outstanding growth in some product areas was clearly driven by the development in certain countries. Overall, the two major trends identifiable this quarter were the weakness in Optoelectronics and the technology shift in Microcontrollers to higher-level architectures. We expect some levelling during the next quarters, but it is obvious that certain products become sexier while others turn into legacy.”

DMASS Ltd. reports to members only statistics on Interconnect, Passive Components, Electromechanical Components and Power Supplies (IPE).

About DMASS

DMASS, 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 consists of 34 active members in 2019 and represents between 80% and 85% 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.