“With sales of €20.8 billion at the end of the year, the German market for electronic components will show an increase of 9.7 percent and exceed the pre-crisis level of 2019”, announced Nicolas-Fabian Schweizer, Chairman of the ZVEI PCB and Electronic Systems Association.
The European market as a whole grew by 5.3 percent and closed the financial year with sales of USD 77.7 billion (EUR 72.1 billion with growth of 3.5 percent). Schweizer's assessment of the result was positive: "In an international comparison, Europe performed robustly, followed by Japan. The China, Asia/Pacific and America regions, on the other hand, recorded a 10.6 percent decline in sales.
Semiconductor market also recovers
Europe also performed well on the global semiconductor market with growth of 6.3 percent and sales of USD 57.2 billion (EUR 53.3 billion with growth of 4.3 percent). By comparison, the China, Asia/Pacific and Americas regions recorded double-digit sales losses.
“However, these positive figures in the electronic components and semiconductor sectors should not obscure the fact that the China and Asia/Pacific regions account for 86 percent of the global PCB market, followed by Japan with 8 percent, the USA with 4 percent and Europe with 3 percent. In 2000, the distribution was quite different: Europe claimed 20 percent of the global PCB market, which is a decline of 85 percent”, Schweizer calculated and went on to say: “Nevertheless, the megatrends suggest strong growth until 2030.”
In contrast, the German market for electronic assemblies recorded a 4.9 percent decline in sales compared to the previous year and is expected to close at EUR 31.4 billion. These losses are also moderate in a global comparison: The European assemblies market is growing slightly by 4.3 percent to USD 138.6 billion (EUR 129.1 billion with growth of 2.4 percent), with the global market shrinking by 7.9 percent to a total turnover of USD 1,190 billion (in euros minus 6.9 percent to EUR 1,096.4 billion).
“Here too, the figures show that Europe is robust in terms of value creation in electronics manufacturing. By contrast, the turnover and growth figures for the other regions are declining”, explained Schweizer. Germany and Europe must now further expand their strengths in process expertise in order to become more competitive and resilient in the high-tech sector. “PCB and electronics manufacturing (EMS - Electronic Manufacturing Services) in combination with microchips are indispensable for the energy transition, digitalisation, the Internet of Things and artificial intelligence”, explained the Chairman of the PCB and Electronic Systems Association of the ZVEI.
