European semi distribution: growth at slower pace

Georg Steinberger, permanent chairman of DMASS, commented on the results: “It is apparent that distribution is coming back to a more moderate path after several quarters of dynamic growth and allocation. With almost 23% growth for the first half of 2011 and a record result, the outlook for the total year is still very positive. Some macro-economic effects can certainly change the course of the second half and infuse more caution into the overall market behaviour.” From a regional perspective, the growth lies in Central and East. Eastern Europe again grew strongest, by 31.1% to 241 Million Euro. For Germany DMASS reported 21.1% growth to 603 Million Euro. Italy grew by 10.3% to 183 Million Euro, the UK by 6.3% to 138 Million Euro and France by 3.3% to 122 Million Euro. The only other country besides Eastern Europe and Germany that grew over-proportionally was Switzerland (18.7%). The Nordic Region went down by 3.2%, mainly driven by a sharp decline in Sweden. Georg Steinberger: “No difference to what we have seen for a few years, Eastern Europe has become the growth driver, primarily through production transfer, with the exception of Russia, which seems to experience its own growth dynamics.” For the major product areas, DMASS reported over-proportional growth in Flash Memories (25.6%), MCUs (23.5%), Power (22.7%), Other Logic (21.6%), Standard Analog (16.4%) and Small Signal (15.3%). Declining areas were Programmable Logic (-3.1%), DSPs (-3.7%) and DRAMs (-10.5%). Georg Steinberger concludes: “From a product perspective, it again shows that Distribution gains pace in design-intensive areas like Power, Analog and MCUs and becomes less dependent on either singular technologies or commodities.”