The Electronic Component Show Returns This September
Following positive reviews from the industry, The Electronic Component Show (ECS) 2024 is set to take place on Thursday, 19th September 2024 at the Kassam Stadium in Oxfordshire.
ECS promises to be a full-packed day, with all exhibition stands sold and 70 exhibitors confirmed. The show will provide visitors with the opportunity to network, and discuss design and purchasing needs with exhibitors from across the globe.
This year's ECS seminar schedule features four seminars, covering topics such as semiconductor risk reduction, AI, strengthening UK manufacturing supply chains, and invention to design to production.
Mark Leary, Publisher & founder of MMG Publishing, commented “This year's Electronic Component Show is going to be the best one-day show since we started our first show back in 2011. With pre-registered attendees considerably up compared to previous shows and with another 100% sell-out exhibition plus an awesome seminar programme it's really hitting the spot for visitors."
It's fantastic to see ECS continue to grow, and build a community for purchasing professionals and design engineers to engage and learn from each other. We look forward to seeing how the show unfolds, and hearing what we are sure will be positive feedback from the industry.
For more information about the show, and how to attend, please click here.
Future Horizons: August Semiconductor Update
This month, alongside the August semiconductor update from Future Horizons, we are happy to share that Future Horizon's upcoming Industry Update Webinar will be taking place on September 10th, 2024 from 3pm-4pm BST.
The webinar will address the current chip industry outlook, exploring whether the chip market boom has come to an end, and sharing the likely growth scenarios for 2025. For more information about the webinar, and how to register, please click here.
Executive Summary
The overall year-on-year total Semiconductor annualised market growth in June came in at 15.9 percent, down from last month’s 22.6 percent number, and just short of April’s 16.6 percent growth. This was the eighth consecutive month of double-digit annualised growth since the market turned positive in September 2023 and, on the face of it, double-digit growth numbers like these are numbers to die for, but we are still not yet minded uncorking the champagne.
Look into the detail and a different picture emerges.
Excluding memory, the annualised IC market showed a more subdued 6.5 percent growth, down from last month’s 7.5 percent number, reflecting just how strong an impact the memory rebound has been on the overall total market.
Logic maintained its second-place position in June, as the next strongest performer on an annualised basis, growing 10.4 percent vs. 12.2 percent in May and 18.9 percent in April, whilst third-place Micro only grew 5.9 percent, on apar with May’s 5.2 percent growth but well below April’s 9.6 percent numbers.
Finally, Analog ICs, the still worst-performing sector, saw its eighteenth month of negative annualised monthly growth, at minus 1.4 percent, vs. minus 1.3 percent in May and minus 9.2 percent in April. The Analog IC market is now down 16.5 percent in value from its June 2022 high.
June saw Opto continue its downward trajectory starting in November 2023, declining 22.2 percent vs. June 2023, whereas Discretes saw its annualised growth rate fall back to minus 12.3 percent compared with minus 13.8 percent in May and minus 13.0 percent in April.
Several broader industry bellwether sectors are still deeply in recession, with no sign yet of any green shoots of recovery.
To our mind, you cannot have a real and sustainable market recovery whilst these sectors remain weak and, based on current trends, a broader-based industry recovery is unlikely before the first half of 2025.
Read the full report here, and remember to quote ‘Napier’ in the order link to claim your 10% Napier discount.
Joining Forces: Electronic Specifier and Women in Electronics
Electronic Specifier has recently partnered with Women in Electronics to launch a new survey, which focuses on creating a benchmark for leadership succession in the electronics industry and related sectors.
Launching shortly before electronica, the survey intends to gather data from both men and women in order to have a clearer understanding of the landscape of leadership, namely in the technology markets and sectors.
As a non-profit organisation, Women in Electronics is dedicated to opening opportunities for their members, inviting anyone who upholds a leadership development model grounded in civility, ethics, and humanity to be a part of their community.
Paige West, Managing Editor at Electronic Specifier, said: "We are pleased to partner with Women in Electronics on this initiative. Launching our joint survey on the experiences of both women and men in the electronics industry and adjacent industries is an important step in our shared commitment to promoting inclusion. This will provide valuable insights and foster meaningful dialogue on how we can collectively create a more balanced and inclusive industry."
Data from the survey will be collected over several months and will also be collated at the WE Annual Leadership Development Summit, which takes place from September 9th-11th 2024 and during electronica 2024 at the 'Women in Tech' forum. Visitors can register their interest in the Women In Tech Forum, by clicking here.
This is a wonderful collaboration between Electronic Specifier and Women in Electronics and builds an initiative that is extremely important for the industry. We look forward to seeing the results, which are due to be published in Q1 2025.
Editor of Leading Electronics Publications Publishes New Books
Editor of Power Electronics News, EEWEB, Embedded.com and European Correspondent for EE Times, Maurizio Di Paolo Emilio, has recently published two new books.
Available as both eBooks and hardcopies, the new books from Maurizio cover GaN Technology and SiC Technology.
As a well-established editor within the electronics industry, it is an impressive achievement to have written two new books alongside his regular editorial duties.
Both of Maurizio's books are now available via the links below:
- SiC Technology Materials, Manufacturing, Devices and Design for Power Conversion
- GaN Technology Materials, Manufacturing, Devices and Design for Power Conversion
Congratulations to Maurizio on this great achievement.
Freelancer Dominic Lenton Begins New Role at The IET
After 34 years as the Managing Editor at E&T magazine, which was followed by a year as a freelance technical editor, Dominic Lenton will be taking up his newest role as a Senior Project Editor at the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET).
In his new role, Dominic will be primarily working on a project which is producing the BS7671 British Standard for electric installations, alongside its associated publications.
We wish him the best of luck in his new role!
Electrical Engineering Magazine Introduces New Editor
Electrical Engineering Magazine has recently announced that Casey Porter, a recent English Literature and Journalism graduate, has taken over from Simon King as editor at the publication.
Congratulations to Casey on her new role!
Future Horizons: July Semiconductor Update
We're delighted to share the most recent extract from Future Horizons July report. Continuing reading below to uncover more about the current market outlook.
Executive Summary
After last month’s temporary pause, May saw Opto continue on the downward trajectory it started in November 2023, declining 5.7 percent annualised growth vs. May 2023.
Likewise, Discretes saw its annualised growth fall even further to minus 15.3 percent vs. 13.0 percent in April and minus 9.9 percent in March. This broader industry bellwether sector is not yet showing any signs of abatement.
At the same time, ICs, the power force behind the industry’s current revenue growth spurt, saw its sixth consecutive month of strong double-digit monthly annualised growth, up 29.7 percent vs. May 2023, reflecting the impact of the strong rebound in memory. The annualised IC sector growth excluding memory was a more subdued 7.0 percent, down from April 2024’s 10.7 percent number.
Don’t Get Drunk On The Headline Numbers … The Devil’s In The Detail
The overall year-on-year total Semiconductor market grew 22.1 percent, up from the 17.4 percent number of April 2024.
This was the seventh consecutive month of double-digit annualised growth since the market turned positive in September 2023.
As mentioned several times before, nice as they are, it is important not to get drunk on these heady headline numbers, given both the huge impact from memory, the stubbornly weak demand for IC units and the still-declining Analog IC, Discrete and Opto markets.
You cannot have a real and sustainable market recovery whilst these sectors remain weak. Based on current trends, a broader-based industry recovery is unlikely before the first half of 2025.
Unit Sales Lagging
May was the seventh consecutive month where shipments were below the IC usage trend line, confirming our belief that the much-needed unit rebound is still a long way to go. There is now ever-diminishing hope for a second-half year IC unit rebound.
Excess inventory remains the industry’s number one problem, affecting not only unit shipments but capacity utilisation rates as well. Forcing customers to honour the Long-Term Agreements (LTAs) signed in the 2022-23 market boom has clearly frustrated efforts to liquidate stocks and rebalance supply with demand, pushing the unit recovery further down the road.
Market Outlook
The extent of the memory market rebound, following one of the steepest recessions in memory history, is having an immediate impact on the memory firms’ P&L, with Samsung Electronics announcing more than a 15-fold increase in second-quarter operating profit.
Their stronger than expected guidance underscores a boom in data centres and AI development, as big tech companies race to develop their own advanced AI models, sparking demand for cutting-edge DRAM chips such as high-bandwidth memory.
Having cut back costs to the bone, any increase in ASP drops immediately to the bottom line.
The news on the non-memory front, however, remains a much bleaker picture. There is still a long way to go before the broader non-Memory market recovers
Future Horizons will be hosting a IFS 2024 Autumn Update on September 20th 2024. For more information, click here. For any further details, please reach out to the Future Horizons team.
Q&A With Napier's Digital Marketing Apprentice
‘Napier Has a Get Stuck in Approach’
Starting out as a young B2B marketer can be daunting, especially in such a competitive landscape. Where workplaces offer insufficient training, it can become easy to get buried amongst high expectations and crazy workloads which ultimately deter young marketers from the field. In fact, a recent study uncovered that 77% UK workers feel that employees could offer more training, with 44% of Gen Z likely to quit their jobs due to a lack of training.
In an ever-evolving landscape, you can never learn too much. Whether you’re joining a company at the start of your career or as an already well-established marketer, we believe that training is just as important.
At Napier, we have the Napier Academy which is set up for all of our new starters. The academy offers an extensive training programme, which includes weekly group training sessions, and an experience tracker where different members of the staff train a new employee in specialist areas such as writing a press release or creating Google ads. We also offer a huge online catalogue of all our previous training sessions, which are accessible at any time.
But the Napier Academy is more than just training, it aids in the development of great marketers, allowing individuals to excel above and beyond their expectations.
We spoke with Napier’s Digital Marketing Apprentice, Maddie Legg, to discuss her experience with the Napier Academy so far.
What makes the Napier Academy so unique?
Maddie: The Napier Academy uses multiple resources such as teachable and handbooks, which are really handy to look at in order to learn independently. But Napier also has a get stuck in approach that encourages people to learn on the job so employees can bring their ideas and identify areas for improvement. And from that, a personalised training plan is created. So that's something that I actually did with Helen [Head of Digital Marketing], and it's not necessarily structured, but instead works around the individual. So, for example, I'm more of a visual learner, I tend to watch a process, ask to see some examples and then give it a go myself and if needed I'll do additional research to better my understanding. So, I think the process is really unique because it suits all types of learners.
Upon joining the Napier Academy, did you have any expectations?
Maddie: I didn't come in with many expectations as the marketing world was also new to me and I wanted to be as open-minded as possible. The main thing that I wanted was to see progress in myself. It's really important to me to be in an environment where I'm continuously improving and developing on my skills. So that was the main thing I was looking for and after six months at Napier, I can confidently say that I feel I've made a great amount of progress.
What has your Napier journey been like so far?
Maddie: I would say my Napier journey has been really exciting and no day is the same. There are always new challenges and opportunities. I have had the chance to assist various people on various accounts, which has been fantastic for both learning but also building relationships within the team and because of these opportunities, my confidence has grown massively.
What has the Napier Academy taught you?
Maddie: So much. The training varies massively and covers so much. I've taken part in technical training through to how to deliver a presentation successfully and confidently, and I think learning from different team members means that you get such a varied perspective. Each person varies in their teaching approach too, which helps keep the training really engaging. We have the weekly Wednesday training which focuses on different topics, including ones I wouldn’t have thought about before, so it is really useful. My experience tracker is also great. So, I can just go back and look at some goals, and then I reach out independently to the people attached to those goals.
How does the Napier Academy support your Apprenticeship?
Maddie: The Academy offers a variety of training and covers both basic and more advanced marketing concepts, which helps ensure that my knowledge is well-rounded. The team are always around to answer questions and for additional information support. So, we get an amount of time to train but that can go beyond because I can then go off in my own time and ask questions, find out more information. There are also multiple resources available which really support my learning and growth. Like I said, there's teachable, so you can do independent research and learning, but there's also always people in the office to help in person too, and I would say all these forms of support mean that I'm able to succeed in my apprenticeship.
You've done campaigns before, such as the pneumatics outreach campaign alongside one of our Digital Marketing Specialists, how did your training support you in this?
Maddie: I would say obviously I had training to support that as I had some training on LinkedIn, which was required for that campaign, but I would also say that it was a learn-on-the-job campaign. I learned how to use WordPress to make a landing page. It was so beneficial and helped me understand it more. Natasha [Digital Marketing Specialist] was great for supporting with LinkedIn. She was really good. I had to create ad copies with the LinkedIn ads, and she showed me some past examples. I then took what the campaign was about and merged them together and managed to make some really good ad copy.
How are you finding your apprentice so far?
Maddie: I'm really enjoying my apprenticeship; I can apply what I learn in my training directly to my work. I also really value the balance between the independent study and the strong support that I receive.
What has been the most difficult part of your apprenticeship and what has surprised you?
Maddie: I would say prioritising and balancing the workload has been the hardest and something that surprised me is that I have a degree, I've written a dissertation, I know how to write well. But I was quite surprised by how different the written tasks within my apprenticeship have been compared to that level. I kind of thought I could go into it quite confidently, but I had to unlearn what I've learned from my degree and start again because, writing something like a dissertation versus a report on a multi-channel marketing campaign is so different. So, whilst my degree definitely provided me with a really strong foundation, I had to unlearn certain habits and adapt to new methods to meet specific requirements.
How do you feel the Napier Academy supported you with those difficulties?
Maddie: On my experience tracker one of the tasks was to develop a piece of writing. So, I reached out to David, one of our Account Managers and he gave me some tips and tricks. I feel like that really helped. Although writing something like a technical article is so different to writing a report, it just gave me insights on how to write well and how to get to the point rather than waffling.
What do you hope to achieve at the end of your apprenticeship?
Maddie: I would say first and foremost, I obviously want to complete all my apprenticeship work to a high standard and receive strong results. I also hope to be offered a permanent place at Napier and continue to progress in my marketing skills. As well, I want to find my niche and my strengths within the field. I'm currently gaining experience in both PR and digital marketing, but by the end of my apprenticeship, I want to find out what I'm best at.
Has the varied training within the Napier Academy helped you pick a marketing niche?
Maddie: I'm still sort of in the middle ground. I'm still learning. I think both are great. I think with digital you can be a bit more creative. But with PR, it's really great for building relationships with clients and getting to know what we actually do as a company. So, I'm really grateful that I've been able to try both because I didn't know that that was going to be the case coming in.
How does your apprenticeship tie into the Napier Academy?
Maddie: The Napier Academy training is really broad, and it covers a wide range of topics and all these topics directly support my apprenticeship. So, for example, we have upcoming training in July on Google Ads, which aligns perfectly with my next apprenticeship project, because I will be focusing on how to implement Google Ads into campaigns, analysing the statistics and working out how to improve the ad. We also have training sessions on analysing advertising statistics which are great for my apprenticeship, especially when writing the analysis, recommendations and conclusion part of my report.
What made you choose Napier?
Maddie: I chose Napier because I already had some previous creative knowledge. I did some creative marketing through photos and videography for my university course when promoting shows and upcoming events. But I really wanted to better my understanding of the more technical aspects of marketing, so I was particularly interested in learning how to understand and analyse statistics and not be scared of them. I think the main reason why I chose Napier is because from my very first interview through to my fourth interview, I instantly felt welcomed. I felt comfortable and could really easily envision myself being a part of the team and I knew Napier was the right place for me to be able to grow and start my career.
All our new starters spend a year within the Napier Academy, but the resources are still accessible throughout their time at Napier should they need it. Having joined in December 2023, Maddie has just under six months left in the Academy and once completed she will be a well-equipped marketer, ready to face anything her marketing career throws at her.
Future Horizons: June Semiconductor Update
This month, we are happy to share both the June semiconductor extract from Future Horizons, plus an exclusive discount of 10% on Future Horizons monthly update report. Quote 'Napier' in the order link to claim your 10% Napier discount.
Continue reading below to find out more about the market's current outlook:
Executive Summary
Opto continued its upwards surge in April, showing flat monthly annualised growth vs. April 2023, up from minus 8.9 percent in March and minus 12.7 percent in February.
Not so in Discretes, where growth fell back to minus 13.0 percent in April, vs. minus 9.9 percent in March and minus 22.3 percent in February. The all-important Discrete sector is still bathed in red ink.
As we have mentioned several times before, nice as they are, it is important not to get blind-sided by these dizzy double-digit growth numbers as it is far from certain they are indicative of a real chip market recovery given the still stubbornly weak demand for IC units Analog and Discretes.
IC’s Leading The Way
April’s total IC sales were up 23.4 percent in value vs. the same period last year, with total Discretes down 13.0 percent and total Opto flat. The overall year-on-year total Semiconductor market grew 17.3 percent.
By comparison, the same datapoints for March were plus 15.7 percent for total Semiconductors, plus 22.1 percent for total ICs, minus 9.9 percent for total Discretes, minus 8.9 percent for total Opto.
The overall semiconductor year-on-year growth in value, at 17.3 percent, was the sixth consecutive month of double-digit growth since the market turned positive in September 2023.
Unit Sales Lagging
April was the sixteenth consecutive month where shipments were below the IC usage trend line, confirming our belief that the much-needed unit rebound is still a long way to go. On current trends, a second-half 2024-unit rebound is very unlikely.
With IC unit sales still 22.3 percent lower than their 2022 peak, and a significant amount on new capacity since added, the industry is likely to be in a sever excess capacity mode throughout 2025. It will take a long time before for the current installed production capacity to be absorbed.
To put that in perspective, during the July 2020-December 2022 period, accumulated excess IC unit shipments over and above the shipment trend line reached 108 billion units, represented by the area above the unit trend line. So far, only 44 billion of these have been compensated for, represented by the current period blow the trend line, only 64 billion more units to go?
Market Outlook
The overall semiconductor market may well still be showing a monthly annualised double-digit growth rate in value, but these numbers are still based off 2023’s falling revenue numbers and are thus exaggerating the true health of the market.
Watch these annualised sales value growth rate numbers start to rein back from June 2024 onwards once the market data starts to be measured against an increasing 2023 revenue base. We believe the month-on-month revenue and unit shipment numbers paint a much more realistic, picture.
Whilst not wishing to rain on the parade, we remain somewhat sceptical on the depth and length of the current ASP-driven recovery and await more datapoints, especially on IC unit demand, before signalling the beginning of the real market upturn.
Future Horizons will be hosting a IFS 2024 Autumn Update on September 20th 2024. For more information, click here.
Circuit Cellar Magazine Announces New Content Editor
Circuit Cellar magazine has announced that Jurij Mikeln, current Editor-in-chief at Svet elektronike, will be joining the publication, taking up the role of Content Editor EU.
The two magazines have an equally extensive history, and this new partnership will enable them to exchange articles to reach a wider audience.
With over 30 years of experience as a publisher, Jurij commented on his new role saying: "Thanks to KC for naming me as Content Editor EU! It's a great honour for me to be a part of such a respectable magazine as CC. During all those years running Svet elektronike I’ve met many partners across Europe while visiting the most important events and fairs in the industry. I will continue doing that for the benefit of Svet elektronike and Circuit Cellar".
We look forward to seeing Jurij in his new role and how the partnership unfolds for both publications.
Napier Ranked in Top 50 Agencies in the B2B Marketing Benchmarking Report 2024!
We are delighted to share that Napier has been featured in the B2B Marketing Benchmarking Report 2024, ranking in the top 50 of UK B2B marketing agencies.
Our expertise across both content creation and content distribution has also been recognised, and Napier is featured in the top 15 agencies as PR and demand generation specialists, and the top 30 agencies as content marketing and thought leadership specialists.
With dedicated teams for multiple areas including PR, content, digital and design, it's fantastic for our hard work and expertise to be recognised in these areas.
Our Managing Director, Mike Maynard, was also featured in this year's report, discussing his view on how agencies are defined by people. To read the full report, including Mike's article, click here to download the B2B Marketing UK Agencies Benchmarking Report 2024.
Napier Shortlisted for the Electronics Industry and Instrumentation Excellence Awards 2024
Award season is coming around again and we are excited to announce that, for the third year in a row, Napier has been shortlisted in the 'Most Outstanding PR Agency' category at the Electronic Industry Awards and in the 'PR Agency of Year' category at the Instrumentation Excellence Awards 2024!
It is always an honour to be shortlisted for these prestigious awards, and we are grateful to continually have opportunities to support our clients in designing and implementing award-winning campaigns. Voting is now open for both awards, and we’d like to ask for your support in voting for Napier. It only takes a few seconds to cast your vote, and can be done by:
- Clicking here to vote for Napier in ‘Most Outstanding PR Agency’ category at the Electronics Industry Awards
- Clicking here to vote for Napier in ‘PR Agency of the Year’ category at the Instrumentation Excellence Awards
The award ceremonies will take place on Thursday, October 24th at the Grand Connaught Rooms, Covent Garden.
Thank you so much for your support, and we’d also like to congratulate several of our clients who have been shortlisted for award categories this year.
Napier, One of the Longest-Standing Agencies in the B2B Tech Sector, Celebrates its 40th Anniversary
We are happy to share that Napier recently celebrated its 40th anniversary at London’s Science Museum, with leading technology editors and companies in attendance. This cements the business as one of the longest-standing agencies in the B2B technology sector.
Originally based in London, Napier was launched in 1984 and moved its headquarters to Chichester in 1988. Business growth led the agency to open three further offices, in London, Keele, and San Francisco.
Over the years, we have acquired various companies including Peter Bush Communications, Armitage Communications and Neesham PR. These acquisitions have led to a specialist workforce based all over the UK.
In 2001, the company was acquired by our current Managing Director, Mike Maynard, alongside Director Suzy. Since that time Mike has managed many major PR and marketing programmes for a wide range of technology-based clients.
Forty years on from the initial launch of Napier, the company is now employed-owned, which means that – through a trust - everyone employed has ownership of the company.
Napier’s Managing Director, Mike Maynard said, “Reaching our 40th anniversary is a major achievement. We would not be here without every single person who has worked at Napier, from the very first team in 1984 to our current team in 2024. It was a pleasure celebrating with some of our clients and journalists, and it was a great day for everyone involved. As a team, we look forward to continuing to grow our expertise and provide specialist support to our current and future clients”.
The day was one to remember and we look forward to another 40 years!
For more details about the history of Napier, click here.
WEKA Fachmedien Introduces AI Newsreader: Meet Elli
WEKA Fachmedien has announced an online video news channel hosted by a presenter called Elli. The twist is that Elli isn't real: she has been created by AI technology.
Moving forward, elektroniknet will provide a weekly news overview in a compact video format with Elli presenting specialist content. The goal is to ensure up-to-date news coverage is being provided to the audience, without reducing the quality or relevance of reporting.
elektroniknet editors will continue to be responsible for the content, while Elli will present the content in an accessible and appealing video format.
This is an interesting move, and using a video presenter has several benefits. It will save time in developing a script and avoids asking journalists who may not be too keen to be in front of a camera, to present the news. WEKA will also own the AI avatar, so it isn't something that can leave the publishing house.
There are potentially a couple of cons in taking this path, one being that an AI newsreader could be less engaging than a real person and that they aren't a presenter you can use at events as content needs to be pre-prepared.
That said, it is great to see WEKA Fachmedien experiment with AI and we are sure that other publications will be watching with great interest.
Success for The InnoElectro Exhibition and Conference
The InnoElectro Exhibition and Conference, held from 23rd to 25th April 2024, has reported that it doubled in size from last year's show, with a 42% increase in attendance. Hosted in Budapest, the event attracted 2,497 professionals from 29 countries, representing over 600 companies from the electronics industry. The exhibition featured 78 exhibitors and included 54 presentations and three-panel discussions.
Adding to the success, the IOT LIVE SHOW and the Solution Provider Competition featured 21 additional exhibitors. The exhibition celebrated the anniversaries of Danutek (20 years) and Microsolder (30 years).
This year, the prestigious InnoElectro Grand Prize was awarded to InterElectronic Hungary Ltd. for their Europlacer ATOM ii-A2 multifunctional component placement machine. Phoenix Contact and Endich Bauelemente also received accolades for their innovative solutions.
It's fantastic to see the growth and success of The InnoElectro Exhibition and Conference. With the next event set for the 8th to 10th of April 2025, we look forward to seeing how the show continues to evolve and support the electronics industry in Hungary.
IOT Insider Hirers New Editor
IOT Insider has welcomed a new Editor to the team, Caitlin Gittins.
With three years of experience within the B2B sector, Caitlin's experience spans several sectors, including agriculture, food production and the Internet of Things (IoT).
Caitlin is passionate about both writing and reading, and her technological interests include the intersection of technology with our daily surroundings and its integration into larger industrial and infrastructural contexts. She is particularly interested in the potential ramifications of new technological advances, including the deployment of 5G networks.
It's always great to see editorial teams expanding, and we wish Caitlin the best of luck in her new role.
For more information about Caitlin, please click here.
Future Horizons: May Semiconductor Update
We are delighted to share May's semiconductor update from Future Horizons. Find out more about the current outlook of the market below:
Executive Overview
March’s total IC sales were up 22.1 percent in value vs. the same period last year, with total Discretes down 9.9 percent and total Opto down 8.9 percent. The overall year-on-year total Semiconductor market grew 15.7 percent.
By comparison, the same datapoints for February were plus 14.3 percent for total Semiconductors, plus 23.1 percent for total ICs, minus 22.3 percent for total Discretes, minus 12.7 percent for total Opto.
The overall semiconductor year-on-year growth in value, at 15.7 percent, was the fifth consecutive month of double-digit growth since the market turned positive in September 2023.
These double-digit growth numbers clearly look like a strong market recovery but, as can be seen for the relevant charts later on, with the IC unit demand, Analog, Discrete and Opto sectors still stubbornly weak, this apparent ‘market recovery’ is predicated by a strong rebound in IC ASP monthly annualised growth.
Given the long-term average ASP growth is zero, our concern is this ASP rebound is purely a counter reaction to the previous year’s period of harsh ASP decline. There is a real danger this will evaporate during 2H-2024 as fast as it suddenly appeared.
Memory and AI processors aside, demand in the other IC sectors, along with Analog, Discretes and Opto, remains sluggishly weak. As we have cautioned many times before in this Report, you cannot call a real market recovery without IC units and Discretes growth.
Market Outlook
As commented on in last month’s column, our 3 percent growth assumption for Q1-2024 was looking optimistic. With the first quarter data now in, our fears were confirmed … the first quarter crashed, wiping US$13 billion off the quarter, which, in turn, reduced our full year forecast by US$50 billion.
Low unit sales, driven by ‘take of pay’ long-term price agreements (LTAs) from the Covid-boom era, are exacerbating industry attempts to rein back excess inventory.
Just like the emperor’s new clothes, the supposed 2024 Super-Cycle has evaporated in a puff of smoke. It always was a delusion, Q1 removed all doubt.
Future Horizons hosted their spring Forecast Webinar at the beginning of May. For the webinar highlights, click here and watch the full webinar by clicking here.
For any further details, please reach out to the Future Horizons team.
Datateam Business Media Acquires Two New Publications
Datateam Business Media has acquired the School Building and MMC publications following the retirement of Lyn O'Donnell at Waverly Publications.
Datateam is no stranger to acquisitions, having continually grown its portfolio over the last decade, adding publications such as Electronics World to the fold.
Although both School Building and MMC are now part of Datateam, Building Specifier, the online publication, will continue to be published by Waverly Publications.
The sale of these publications continues to show Datateam's commitment to growth, and the building of a diverse portfolio that covers several sectors. We look forward to seeing the direction Datateam will take the publications in the near future.
Procurement Pro: A Great Success From Electronic Specifier
In February, Electronic Specifier launched its new magazine, Procurement Pro, the newest 'go-to' guide for those within the world of procurement in the electronic components market.
The first edition of the publication covered a wide variety of topics, including semiconductor analysis and commentary from the Chairman of the Electronic Components Supply Network (ecsn).
Following the launch, the print version of Procurement Pro made its debut at two of the biggest events within the industry, the Applied Power Electronics Conference 2024 (APEC 2024), hosted in February at Long Beach, California, and embedded world 2024, hosted earlier this month in Nuremberg, Germany. But that's not all, coming summer 2024, Procurement Pro will also be launching as a website. The website will offer deeper discussions of topics covered within the magazine and provide industry insights.
With the publication currently distributing quarterly, the next issue will be ready to read this May. Those attending The Electronic Distributor Show (EDS) at the Mirage, in Las Vegas from 21st to 24th May 2024, will be able to meet the Procurement Pro team and receive their own copy of the magazine.
Congrats to the team at Procurement Pro!
Success for embedded world 2024
It has been two weeks since embedded world and the results are in! The exhibition and conference were another great success, with a record attendance of 32,000 visitors from more than 80 countries and over 1,100 exhibitors from over 50 countries.
The two parallel conferences which consisted of a total of 81 sessions and 17 classes, attracted 1,871 participants and featured speakers from 45 countries.
"The past three days were simply great," commented Executive Director Benedikt Weyerer on Thursday evening at the close of embedded world 2024. "We were able to observe thousands of happy faces and in-depth conversations – both on the stands as well as in the packed halls and aisles."
The Napier team contributed to these staggering numbers, with five members of our team in attendance. We met with over 30 different editors across 50 meetings and had the chance to meet many of our European-based clients face-to-face.
There's no denying that embedded world is a staple of our industry, and has long been regarded as the ‘go-to’ place to gain insight into embedded system technologies. It was great to see the event busy and in full force, and we look forward to next year's show.
embedded world 2025 has been confirmed and will take place from March 11th - 13th 2025.
It's Nearly Time For Focus On PCB 2024!
The third edition of 'Focus on PCBs - From Design to Assembly' is taking place on May 15th -16th 2024. The event is the only European B2B trade fair focused on the world of printed circuits.
The show will be taking place at the Fiera di Vicenza in Italy, and expects attendees from all over the world with 116 companies confirmed.
Two days of the conference will offer 10 technical presentations from various leading companies within the printed circuit industry. Talks will look at PCB Design and Assembly and will provide insights into the processes faced by electronic designers. The final day of the conference will spotlight Artificial Intelligence, investigating its impact on the electronics industry. There will also be 26 specialist forum meetings, which are technical workshops dedicated to relevant issues like sustainability and reshoring.
One unique feature of Focus on PCBs, is the recruiting service, Focus on Career. Companies attending PCB will be able to share details of the professionals they are looking for, with job offers being published at the fair and online.
Focus on PCBs is not to be missed, and we look forward to hearing about the outcome of the event!
Future Horizons: April Semiconductor Update
We're happy to share this month's extract of Future Horizons April report on the semiconductor market. Continue reading to learn more about the market's current outlook.
Executive Overview
2019, pre-Covid, saw the IC sector shrink, whilst Opto boomed and Discretes remained flat, reversing positions in the first half of 2020, with Opto in decline whilst IC growth recovered, with all sectors back in step by the second half of 2020.
The reverse situation seems to be happening right now, with ICs in full growth mode, whilst Discretes and Opto are in decline. We believe this trend will run its course over the coming months with all sectors back in step by the second half of this year … unfortunately all being more likely in decline..
Market Update
At our January Industry Update webinar, we presented our official forecast for 2024, namely a 16 percent growth in value, with the Bull and Bear scenarios being plus 20 and plus 12 percent respectively.
Our concern at that time was that this growth rate was inflated by ASPs that were being measured against 2023’s severely collapsed values, and as such the ‘recovery’ was a statistical quirk of the math and not genuine market growth.
Regular readers of our reports will know we have constantly counselled of this danger and of our belief that, without a recovery in unit sales, this dollar ‘growth’ will one day evaporate in a puff of smoke. It looks like that day is now coming into sight.
Given the worsening IC unit shipment situation, with no end yet in sight to this route, it is looking increasingly likely that our forecast concerns were valid.
Other than Memory, which is now in a genuine recovery phase, sadly all the other IC product segments, along with Discretes and Opto, are not doing as well, with the monthly annualized growth rates all on a downward trend.
We commented last month that our 3 percent growth assumption for Q1-2024 was starting to look optimistic. With the first two months’ data now in, our fears are confirmed … Q1 will now shrink.
Future Horizons will be hosting a spring update webinar on May 7th 2024, which will present an updated forecast for 2024. For more information and to review previous webinars, click here.
For any further details, please reach out to the Future Horizons team.
Electronique Composants Instrumentation Announces New Editor-in-Chief
ECINews's current Editor-in-Chief, Alain Dieul, has announced that he will be stepping down from the role, and will be passing the torch to Nicolas Feste, who has several years of experience working within the electronics sector as an engineer. Alain will continue to work alongside Nicolas, supporting him whilst he takes charge of his new post as Editor-in-Chief.
We look forward to liaising with Nicolas and wish both him and Alain the best of luck.
March Semiconductor Market Update from Future Horizons
As an agency that works with some of the leading companies within the technology industry, it is important that we stay up-to-date on the industry, including trends and the outlook of technology markets. So, we were excited to have the opportunity to share an extract of Future Horizons March report on the semiconductor market:
Executive Overview
IC ASPs continued to drive the recovery, up 34.7 percent vs. January 2023. They were also up 7.6 percent vs. December 2023, which was untypical for the first month of the quarter.
At the same time, IC unit sales fell 13.9 percent vs. December 2023, again unusual for the first month of the quarter, and were also down 10.4 percent vs. January 2023.
With IC unit demand still in decline, the current furor over the supposed chip market ‘recovery’ needs to be treated with extreme caution bordering on the irrational.
Market Update
January saw IC ASPs rebound from December’s dramatic downward correction, continuing their now eight-month long recovery climb, up 7.6 percent vs. December 2023.
At the same time, IC unit shipments were 27.1 percent lower than the May 2022 8.2 billion maxed-out capacity peak and 16.4 percent lower than the overall long-term trend line, a marked deterioration over last month’s 3.9 percent number.
This is the first time since records began that ASPs have led a market recovery. In the normal course of events, unit growth recovers first, with ASPs following ‘one-year later’. There is no obvious underlying reason for this behaviour, quite the opposite, it flies in the face of fundamental economic supply and demand pricing theory.
Either it will prove to be a curious quirk of statistics or a fundamental, but as yet undetermined, radical shift in market behaviour. Our bet is firmly on the former not the latter, especially given the overall global economic uncertainty.
Hopes that the US Federal Reserve would start dropping interest rates towards the end of March were dashed when the most recent inflation data rose at its fastest pace in almost a year, signaling a still bumpy road ahead against a robust labour market, strong growth and a resilient American consumer background.
So far, central banks have managed to successfully walk the fine line between pushing up interest rates to bring down inflation but not to the point of triggering a recession. The chances of a soft landing for the global economy are still strong but the overall economic outlook remains decidedly weak.
As one of the most respected semiconductor industry analysts across the globe, Future Horizons report provides some excellent insight into what’s currently happening in the semiconductor market. To find out how to access the full report, please click here.
Future Horizons will be hosting a spring update webinar on May 7th 2024. For more information and to review previous webinars, click here.
For any further details, please reach out to the Future Horizons team.
WEKA Fachmedien Official Media Partner of embedded world
WEKA Fachmedien has announced that they are once again the official media partner of embedded world.
Taking place from April 9th-11th in Nuremberg Germany, the show will host a range of experts, professionals, and companies from the embedded industry.
As media partner, WEKA Fachmedien will provide daily analysis and coverage, publishing the official daily embedded world newspaper throughout the event.
The media house will also host the 17th Media Summit, taking place on April 9th, at 2 pm in room Seoul, NCC East. The speakers, Prof. Matthias Spörrle and Matthäus Hose, will undertake a lecture, presenting their analysis of our accelerated age.
The 22nd edition of the embedded world Conference will take place throughout the show. This features 243 presentations, 17 classes and two keynotes covering all aspects of the development and application of embedded systems.
On the second and third day of the show, the Electronics Displays Conference will take place. Designed for experts and luminaries within the display industry, the programme will consist of eight keynotes that will highlight current industry trends.
As always, embedded world is not a show to be missed, and we're looking forward to attending the event in April to hear the latest insights and trends from the industry.