Situation of the French semiconductor market at 1ˢᵗ quarter 2019
Paris, June 3, 2018 – According to ACSIEL Alliance Electronique, in the first quarter of 2019 the French market totaled 480.9 million euros. This figure includes all direct sales by semiconductor manufacturers and resales by their distributors to integrators. This represents a decline of just -0.6% on the fourth quarter of 2018 (compared with a European market decline of -2.2% in euro terms). The French market grew by 2.5% compared with the first quarter of 2018.
Sequential growth in POS sales through distribution was +7.3%, while direct sales to OEM integrators fell by -4.6%.
Among direct sales, the Smart Card segment was the only one to see growth, which was 41% but after a significant dip in the third and fourth quarters of 2018.
Direct sales to the Consumer/Computer segment recorded a significant decline, confirming the seasonal profile of the first quarter specific to this segment, already observed in 2017 and 2018. The Military/Aerospace segment saw its sales decline by -11% in the first quarter, but retained a high degree of stability over the long term, accounting for around 10% of direct sales to the end customer.
Despite a -6% decline, direct sales to the industrial market recorded their second-best quarter in terms of billings, following the all-time record set in the fourth quarter of 2018.
The Automotive market held up relatively well, with a moderate decline of -2%, but continued to increase its share of direct sales to major customers, passing the 42% threshold.
Three major product families stood out for their sales growth to integrators in the first quarter: discrete circuits (+8%), analog integrated circuits (+4%) and dedicated and standard MOS Logic circuits (+2%).
During the first quarter, the French market seems to have been relatively protected from certain cyclical ups and downs by its own structure. We can assume that its low exposure to the memory market, in particular, has shielded it from a more significant downturn in a phase that has proved particularly tricky for DRAM and Flash memory manufacturers since the end of last year. Compared with France, the global semiconductor market experienced one of the steepest quarterly declines in its history in the first quarter, with a 16% drop, according to the WSTS. The predominant weight of the Automotive, Industrial and Military/Aerospace segments, which account for over 80% of France’s TAM and are by nature fairly stable, is also a factor in cushioning the current cyclical downturn.
Quarterly trends in the French market since 2010, in indexes, annual moving average – Source #ACSIEL