Semiconductor boom bypasses Germany and Europe

Business with semiconductors is booming in the USA and Asia. Sales there are so high that the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) is reporting a record month with sales worth 55.3 million US dollars.

At the current exchange rate, this corresponds to just under 51.4 million euros, although the actual euro figure is likely to be higher due to recent currency fluctuations. In the third quarter as a whole , turnover amounted to almost 160 billion dollars.

USA and Asia ahead, Europe behind

US manufacturers in particular made a huge leap: Within a year, their monthly turnover rose by 46.3 percent to just over 17.2 billion dollars. Chinese companies were close behind with growth of 22.9% to 16 billion dollars. They mainly produce small parts with older manufacturing technology that are needed all over the world.

Taiwan is not listed separately by the SIA. However, among the other Asian countries, it notes growth of 18.4 percent to 13.4 billion dollars. This is likely to mainly include chips produced by TSMC, the world's largest chip contract manufacturer.

Europe, on the other hand, is lagging behind. In a year-on-year comparison, there was a drop of 8.2 percent to 4.43 billion dollars in September. Between January 2024 and July, the figure fell slightly further each month. Only since August has there been a sequential upward trend.

Record decline for distributors in Germany

While the SIA receives its figures directly from its association members, the German Fachverband Bauelemente Distribution e. V. (FBDi) reports on the sales of European and German distributors in Germany. These include Arrow, Avnet, Glyn, Mouser and RS.

According to the FBDi, the local semiconductor sales of the participating distributors halved within a year to 477 million euros in the third quarter of 2024. The order situation is also currently poor.

Improvement is also expected in Europe in 2025. Until then, operators of AI data centers in particular will be spending a lot of money.

(mma)