Electronics supply chain sales growth slows, IPC reports

Consumer spending declined to the lowest level since 2001 in October, according to the IPC.

Staff -- Electronic Business, 12/9/2008

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. 

The consequences of the financial meltdown in October continued to roll across the U.S. economy. Consumer spending declined to the lowest level since 2001. US new orders for electronic products continued their downward swing in October.

Although PCB (printed circuit board), semiconductor and EMS (electronics manufacturing services) shipments on average are slightly up, supply chain sales are expected to contract in the coming months, driven by the decrease in end-product orders.

Trends in US computer and electronic products new orders vs North American sales indices of selected supplier industries, November 2007 – October 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 September report.