Signs of a seasonal weakness occurred in semiconductor distribution during the Spring quarter. According to DMASS (Distributors’ and Manufacturers’ Association of Semiconductor Specialists), sales in the second quarter grew by 2.15% to 1.86 Billion Euro in Q2/CY16 over the same quarter last year. Currency effects have eased out in the meantime.
Georg Steinberger, chairman of DMASS: “The second quarter ended a bit below our expectations, but bookings are still holding up. The first half of 2016 ended with a healthy 5.2% growth at the EMEA level. We would expect 2016 in total to remain solidly positive, as the slowdown did not occur across the board but was driven by a few special effects, like business having been taken direct by some manufacturers.”
Regionally, the differences in Q2 performance were considerable. While Eastern Europe, Germany, Austria, Iberia and Turkey held up quite nicely, France and Italy finished on average and the UK, Switzerland, Norway, Sweden, Belgium + Luxembourg, Russia, Poland and Israel came back negative. Germany as the biggest market ended the second quarter with 575 Million Euro (+5%), Italy with 182 Million (+2.3%), UK with 141 Million Euro (-1.7%) and France at 137 Million Euro (+1.6%). Nordic declined to 161 Million Euro (-10.7%), Israel to 68 Million Euro (-5%).
Georg Steinberger: “What we are seeing from a regional perspective is a weakening market in the UK, more production transfer from Nordic to Eastern Europe and strong growth in some low-cost manufacturing countries in Eastern Europe. There is a lot of movement but, on the positive side, Germany returns a healthy, organic growth and so does Italy. The question is ‘are we seeing now the end of a long positive streak for distribution or is it just a normal slowdown’? I would tend to believe that in spite of a slowdown, the opportunities for organic growth are still excellent in the mature economies.”
On the product-side, the picture is as mixed as at the regional view. While Power, Sensors, Opto and MCUs grew way above average, Discretes (here RF) and Logic returned negatively. Analog and Memory grew slightly above average. In detail, Analog products grew by 3.8% to 559 Million Euro, MOS Micro by 3.9% to 387 Million Euro, Optoelectronics by 9.9% to 198 Million Euro, Power by 6.3% to 185 Million Euro and Memories by 3.2% to 146 Million Euro. On the negative side were Discretes (-4.2% to 96 Million Euro), Programmable Logic (-14.8% to 123 Million Euro) and Other Logic (-9.5% to 91 Million Euro.
Georg Steinberger: “There are clearly some special effects at work that hit some distributors in certain product areas, like RF, Programmable Logic and Other Logic, some of which are due to manufacturers having taken distribution business direct. Without these effects, Q2 would have ended at around 4%. However, that is part of the game.”