Waldom Electronics’ CEO, Don Akery, highlights 2024’s growth markets and comments on component inventory, surpluses, availability and pricing
Waldom anticipates growth and decline in various OEM market sectors for 2024. We foresee continued stability and expansion in automotive, electric vehicles, industrial automation, military, aerospace and markets geared towards ESG initiatives.
On the other hand, we expect certain market sectors to face challenges, including the consumer sector, telecom/ datacom, mobile phones and PC markets. This is primarily due to reduced demand and surplus inventory across the supply chain.
Growth and decline within the electronic component supply chain have had significant impacts on component availability and pricing. Over the past 12-months, as market conditions have slowed, we’ve observed an abundant supply of inventory. Surpluses have become evident at all supply chain levels.
This situation has prompted our distributor customers to adapt their inventory strategies, reducing safety stock levels and lead times. These adjustments are in response to excessive inventory levels at their end customers, which have subsequently affected manufacturers who now find themselves with slow- moving and excess stock.
While the surplus of inventory is gradually diminishing, we anticipate it will likely persist throughout most of 2024 before returning to more normal levels. In specific product categories, such as interconnect and electromechanical products, we may start seeing improvements by Q3 or Q4.
Interestingly, despite surplus stock, prices have remained resilient. Following a couple of years marked by price increases, we now anticipate pricing remaining stable. Early 2024 may see some price reductions but it’s important to note we do not foresee prices reverting to 2019 levels in the near future.