European semiconductor distribution market returns to growth

The European Semiconductor Distribution Market currently seems to be getting out of a 2 year trough. According to DMASS (Distributors’ and Manufacturers’ Association of Semiconductor Specialists), sales in Q2/CY13 grew by 2.6% to 1.51 Billion Euro compared to Q2/CY12. The first half of 2013 ended with sales of 3 Billion Euro, which represents a slight decrease of 1.4%. Georg Steinberger, chairman of DMASS, commented on the results: “As expected, the improvement on the booking side since Q4/CY12 materialises now in the form of higher revenues, so that the market has slightly turned towards a positive trend. However, we should be careful to over-interpret the market conditions, as bookings are just slightly higher than billings. With China as one key economy softening, the trend could turn easily. Nevertheless, I am cautiously optimistic that 2013 will remain positive.“ Regionally, in a Q2/Q2 comparison, if it were not for the UK (-4.9%) and especially Germany (-2.8%), the quarter would have turned out even more positively. DMASS reported for Germany total sales of 462 Million Euro and for the UK 122 Million Euro. France grew moderately (+4.4% to 117 Million Euro), Italy surprisingly strong (+10.3% to 155 Million Euro), Nordic went up by 11.2% to 154 Million Euro (despite a massive production shift out of the region) and Eastern Europe further strengthened its critical mass with 167 Million Euro (+11%). Georg Steinberger: “Reading the newspaper, you would expect the opposite, but the fact is that Germany still shows signs of weakness in semiconductor demand and Italy firmly secures its second position as a single market within Europe.“ At the product detail level, all major segments except Programmable Logic and Discretes were positive in Q2/CY13. Programmable Logic declined by 13.6% to 125 Million Euro, Discretes by 5.5% to 77 Million Euro. Other Logic (14.4% to 85 Million Euro) and Sensors (10.7% to 35 Million Euro) grew double-digit, the rest ended between 1.9% and 6.1%. The major segments Analog, MOS Micro and Opto showed above average recovery, Analog to 428 Million Euro (+3.6%), MOS Micro to 315 Million Euro (6.1%) and Opto to 142 Million Euro (6.1%). Georg Steinberger: “Major product segments which are typical for distribution remained stable. Exceptions like Programmable Logic and to a lesser extent RF Discretes are of lesser concern to the whole DMASS community, but more so to the major contenders in that area. Other high end key technologies on the other side (32-Bit MCUs and High-Brightness LEDs) showed over-proportional growth, which proves for me that distribution increasingly drives more complex projects.“