Semiconductor demand growing in Europe, says distribution association

Georg Steinberger, chairman of DMASS, said: "As expected, the improvement in bookings since Q4 in 2012 has materialised as higher revenues, so the market has turned slightly towards a positive trend. However, we should be careful to not over interpret the market conditions, as bookings are only slightly higher than billings. With China's economy softening, the trend could turn easily. Nevertheless, I am cautiously optimistic that 2013 will remain positive." However, sales in the UK and in Germany declined by 4.9% and 2.8% respectively. Steinberger said: "Reading the newspaper, you would expect the opposite, but the fact is that Germany still shows signs of weakness in semiconductor demand." Demand in Italy was said to be 'surprisingly strong', growing by 10.3%, whilst Nordic sales increased by 11.2% and Eastern Europe by 11%. All major products segments showed growth in demand, except for programmable logic and discretes, which declined by 13.6% and 5.5% respectively. Steinberger concluded: "Major product segments, which are typical for distribution, remained stable and high end technologies, such as 32bit mcus and high brightness leds, showed much higher growth, which proves for me that distribution increasingly drives more complex projects."