DMASS: Distribution sales break all records in Q4

Semiconductor sales, as reported by the members, grew 39.4% over Q4/2020 to a new record level of 2.62 Billion Euro.

IP&E (Interconnect, Passive and Electromechanical) components grew by 39.5% to 1.13 Billion Euro, also a new record.

In total, across all components, distribution sales in 2021 grew by 25.4% to over 13.9 Billion Euro.

Hermann Reiter, chairman of DMASS: “We have seen similar or higher growth rates in distribution in the past, but the sales levels we have achieved in 2021 are unprecedented. Considering that the pressure in the components market is still on – represented by extremely high bookings, huge backlogs and lead-times well into 2023 – our optimism for the new year is accompanied by some concern about the effects of the shortage on the growth rates of our customers. While growth opportunities are huge, so are the accumulated risks (like double-ordering) and potential new ones (further CoVID- related supply chain disruptions and geopolitical conflicts).”

Semiconductors

Different regions and countries across Europe experienced a huge spread of growth rates in semiconductors in Q4, from 16% to 55%.

The major countries, however ended up in the same zone: Germany grew by 44.4% to 707 Million Euro, Eastern Europe rose 30.5% to 467 Million Euro, Italy rocketed an astounding 50.9% to 233 Million Euro, France climbed by 43% to 170 Million Euro and the UK accelerated by 42.8% to 174 Million Euro.

At an annual level, almost all countries grew by a healthy double-digit percentage.

Product and product group-wise, Memories were the fastest growing semiconductor product group in Q4, with an increase of 64.3% to 284 Million Euro, followed by Discrete with 54.9% growth and total resales of 155 Million Euro.

The major product groups, Analogue and MOS Micro, grew by 39.3% and 34.5% respectively to 729 Million Euro and 517 Million Euro respectively. Power, Sensors and Standard Logic remained above average with Opto, Other Logic and Programmable Logic below average.

At an annual level, the big winners were Discretes, Memories, Sensors and Power Devices.

Interconnect, Passive and Electromechanical (IP&E) components showed great parallels to semis and even outgrew them on an annual level.

An annual growth of 32.1% to 4.36 Billion Euro represents a new record since the start of IP&E reporting. In Q4, IP&E grew b 39.5% to 1.13 Billion Euro. Regional growth was equally spread, except for a trailing Russia.

On the product side, Passives remained the biggest group, with an increase of 40.6% to 534 Million Euro, followed closely by Electromechanical products (including Connectors) which grew by 38.7% to 525 Million Euro.

Power Supplies (including Batteries), the smallest group, remained steady at 36.9% growth and 68 Million Euro turnover.

At an annual level, both Passives and Electromechanics, showed a balanced growth performance.

Chairman Hermann Reiter: “Great to see our market performing so well, we out- performed our recent expectations by some degree. It was interesting to see that IP&E sequentially fell back behind Q3 while Semis remained strong through the year-end. We expect 2022 to be another strong year and would hope that supply chain issues, as recently reported from China, with production stops due to CoVID-19 infections, will evaporate soon. As stated before, the biggest risks remain in the geopolitical crises among the major powers, and it is to be hoped for the benefit of our common business that conflicting interests will be sorted out before long.”