European Semiconductor Distribution Market (DMASS)

Packs a Wallop in Second Quarter 2017

Semiconductor distribution continues double-digit growth. Centre of upswing in South and East Europe. Logic and Memory show highest impact.

London, August 17, 2017 – The European semiconductor industry shows no signs of slowdown in Q2/2017. According to DMASS Ltd., semiconductor sales as reported by the members ended with another record of 2.19 Billion Euro, an increase of 17.3% over the corresponding quarter last year. For the first six months, DMASS reported over 4.3 Billion Euro of consolidated semiconductor sales, 14% more than the first half of 2016.

Georg Steinberger, chairman of DMASS: “As many market participants feel right now, the dynamic growth over the last nine months was unprecedented. The significant allocations in several product areas make it difficult to predict the rest of the year, but it would be safe to assume that double-digit growth will continue through 2017. DMASS Totals of 8 Billion Euro, an all-time record, are in range for the full year. What is surprising, is the fact that the growth impact comes from almost all industry segments, driven by a higher electronics content across many applications.”

Regionally, Poland, Turkey, Russia and Israel lead the growth wave, with increases between 30 and 40%. The major regions trailed the overall growth – Germany as the biggest single market grew by 13.7% to 653 Million Euro, Italy by 13.4% to 207 Million Euro, the UK/Eire by 9.6% to 154 Million Euro and France by 8.5% to 151 Million Euro. Eastern Europe grew by 28.3% to 336 Million Euro and Nordic by 14.1% to 184 Million Euro.

Georg Steinberger: “If you look at the growth in Eastern Europe, it is mainly driven by production shifts from Northern and Central Europe. Positively surprising is the resilience of the Italian high-tech market against the domestic economic problems.”

At the product side, the growth is across the board, a sign for healthy market development. Other Logic (application-specific logic) and Memories have seen the highest growth rates, followed by Programmable Logic. All other product segments grew under-proportionally except single product categories like Analog Interface, Flash Memories or High-End-MCUs. Analog ICs as the biggest product group in DMASS grew 16.7% to 656 Million Euro (this represents 30% of DMASS Total). MOS Micro by 15.6% to 443 Million Euro, Power by 13.1% to 210 Million Euro, Opto by 10.2% to 223 Million Euro, Memories by 27.9% to 183 Million Euro and Programmable Logic by 27.1% to 155 Million Euro.

Georg Steinberger: “Standing out from the crowd are memory and logic products in general, application specific logic and DRAM particularly. Programmable Logic is experiencing higher growth despite channel shifts from distribution to direct, but this could be seasonal. However, even without these very particular growth spikes, the distribution market in Europe shows healthy double-digit growth. ”

“Looking forward remains difficult”, said Steinberger: “Lovely to see 2-digit growth as record levels continue, but with the challenges ahead on the distribution channel – whether it is business model, margin pressure or regulatory influences – the outlook becomes teeth-grinding. I am sure distribution will master the aforementioned problems and turn them into interesting business propositions for customers.”

DMASS Ltd. reports to members only new statistics on Passive Components, Electromechanical Components and Power Supplies.

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 38 active members in 2017 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.