News and New Products

Electronics supply chain sales still waiting for an upturn, IPC reports

US new orders for computer and electronic products were slightly down in April after an upturn in March, according to the IPC.

Staff -- Electronic Business, 6/23/2009

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.

Retail sales in the United States dropped unexpectedly in April, possibly a reflection that rising unemployment is a growing concern for consumers. US new orders for computer and electronic products were slightly down in April after an upturn in March. 

PCB (printed circuit board) and EMS (electronic manufacturing services) shipments also continued to decline. 

Seasonal effects have some role in this decline, however, as sales in these industries typically rise at quarter’s end and contract at the beginning of the next quarter.  The semiconductor shipment index remained flat in April.

Trends in US computer and electronic products new orders vs North American sales indices of selected supplier industries, May 2008 to April 2009

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; U.S. Census Bureau for U.S. new orders for computer and electronic products.

IPC's March report can be found here.