News and New Products

Electronics supply chain sales contract in September, IPC reports

US new orders for electronic products and semiconductor shipments were down in September after increasing in August.

Staff -- Electronic Business, 11/18/2008

Editor's note: The following information is provided by IPC — Association Connecting Electronics Industries from its quarterly business report, the Supply Chain Tracker.  Other industry data can be found at www.ipc.org.

September saw a sharp drop in US consumer spending, which accounts for two-thirds of US economic activity.  This drove Q3 gross domestic product (GDP) into a 0.2% contraction, confirming most analysts’ predictions that the world's biggest economy is heading into recession. US new orders for electronic products and semiconductor shipments were down in September after increasing in August.

Similarly, PCB (printed circuit board) and EMS (electronics manufacturing services) shipments remained flat. The long-term outlook for the EMS industry remains positive with ever increasing global demand for consumer electronics.

Trends in US computer and electronic products new orders vs North American sales indices of selected supplier industries, October 2007 to September 2008

Note on the graph:  All indices are based on the same baseline of the average month in 2000=100, and reflect a 3-month rolling average.

Sources:  IPC statistical programs for the EMS and PCB industries; SIA for semiconductor data; US Census Bureau for US new orders for computer and electronic products.

Click here for IPC's August report.