According to DMASS (Distributors’ and Manufacturers’ Association of Semiconductor Specialists), the european semiconductor distributor and manufacturer members achieved quarterly distribution revenues of 1.38 Billion Euro in Q1/2008. That represents a decline of 7.9% sequentially (against Q4/2007), sales were up 12.3%.
The first quarter looked quite similar in Western Europe and much more positive in Eastern Europe. Of the bigger sales regions, the steepest decline against last year’s Q1 occurred in the UK with -22.1% (117 Million Euro), followed by France (-11.4% to 114 Million Euro) and Italy (-9.8% to 183 Million Euro). Germany fell by 7.2% to 461 Million Euro, proving its resistance against the massive production transfer that has affected all of Western Europe. Benelux declined by -14%, Iberia by -11% and the Nordic Region by -5.6%. The winner was again Eastern Europe with +10.5% with a total of 162 Million Euro, led by Russia, Poland, Hungary and the Emerging Countries (Rumania, Baltic States, Ukraine, etc.).
Ian Bass Chairman of DMASS commented: “The regional development was very consistent with what we saw in previous quarters. Of concern is without doubt the ongoing weakness of the markets in the UK and France. While Italy and Germany recovered with +22% and +20% respectively against the Q4/2007 figure, the UK (and Ireland) only managed to exceed Q4/2007 by 2% and France by 12%. However, from a design perspective, those countries continue to be strong.”
Product-wise, the different areas were all negative, the only distinction being the degree of impact. Discrete Components (including Power) declined only by -3.2% to 241 Million Euro, MOS Micro (Microprocessors, Controllers and DSPs) went down by -5.9% to 322 Million Euro and Analog components lost 6.7% (down to 373 Million Euro) against Q1/2007. All other areas lost over-proportionally, with Programmable Logic (-14.1%) and MOS Logic (-14.2%) leading the product decline. On the positive side, IGBTs (+42%) and DRAMs (11.9%) grew by double digits.
DMASS also welcomes two new members - Maxim and Anglia.
