Ron Bishop of Bishop & Associates, contributor to TTI, Inc.’s MarketEYE Resource Center, details regional and global sales of connectors versus semiconductors and details potential challenges to the market
The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) reported May sales of $43.6 billion, up 24.7 percent from the prior year, and up 4.2 percent sequentially.
Regionally for May, the SIA reported that sales in the Americas grew 19.8 percent year-over-year; sales in China increased 24.5 percent; Japan sales increased 17.4 percent; Asia Pacific/Other sales increased by 29.9 percent; and sales in Europe increased 29.5 percent.
Connector industry sales in May were up 30.7 percent from the prior year and increased 7.3 percent sequentially.
Regionally, for May, year-over-year sales increased 25.2 percent in Japan, 45.1 percent in Asia Pacific, 64.4 percent in Europe, 43.7 percent in North America, 26.7 percent in China and 45.1 percent in Rest of World.
The following graph compares semiconductor sales performance to the connector industry since January 2020. (Fig.1)
Strong Performance in Connectors
Connector industry sales performance has been higher than semis for the last seven months. Sales performance for semis did not decline in early 2020 as connector sales did. The converging sales performance, however, makes more sense for the two components which are largely used in tandem.
The following table displays year-to-date performance, measured in US dollars, by geographic region for both components:
Connector sales performance surpassed semi sales performance for the last seven consecutive months due to easier comparisons. The YTD sales performance of both components, however, is converging.
Coronavirus Challenges Threaten Recovery
Many countries have started to revive their economies, but some have also seen setbacks. We do not anticipate that there will have been significant setbacks in connector industry performance in the first half of 2021.
However, the surge in Covid-19 cases in recent months has picked up in some countries such as India and Brazil. An increase in industrial production around the world has resulted in spiking demand for semiconductors and other materials, with many shortages showing up from January through May. New outbreaks in Taiwan and Indonesia could further exacerbate the semi shortages.
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