According to the March Electronic Component Sales Trends (ECST) survey from the Electronic Components Industry Association (ECIA), sales sentiment remained essentially unchanged from February as the index dropped just 0.7 points to 112.5 points in March.
A sales sentiment score of 100 points or more represents growth.
The outlook for April forecasts another minor drop to 111.3 points, showing positive stable assessment as the encouraging 2025 continues for electronic components.
However, not everything was positive news. Semiconductors, which have been trending down since the beginning of the year, dropped below the 100-point threshold in March and every semiconductor category weakened with microcontrollers/microprocessors dropping to almost 80 points. The good news is that all the other semiconductor subcategories remain at or above 100 points.
In April, the MCU/MPU segment is expected to rebound back to 100 points and support a general semiconductor sentiment recovery to 113 points in April. While this is not a guarantee of what will happen, it shows that momentum toward positive sales sentiment continues in 2025.
Positive and negative
Distributors, manufacturer representatives and manufacturers all report positive views of the market sentiment in March. The outlook for these groups in April is a forecast of 105.6 points.
Other positive sectors for sales sentiment over 100 points include:
- Avionics/military/space
- Industrial
- Medical electronics
Automotive and consumer electronics continue to trend below the 100-point threshold and computers also dropped below the 100-point threshold in March.
About the ECIA ECST report
The ECST survey provides highly valuable and detailed visibility on industry expectations in the near-term through the monthly and quarterly surveys. This “immediate” perspective is helpful to participants up and down the electronics components supply chain. In the long-term, ECIA shares in the optimism for the future as the continued introduction and market adoption of exciting innovative technologies should motivate both corporate and consumer demand for next-generation products over the long term.
The complete ECIA ECST report is delivered to all ECIA members as well as others who participate in the survey. All participants in the electronics components supply chain are invited and encouraged to participate in the report so they can see the highly valuable insights provided by the ECST report.
The monthly and quarterly ECST reports present data in detailed tables and figures with multiple perspectives and covering current sales expectations, sales outlooks, product cancellations, product decommits and product lead times. The data is presented at a detailed level for six major electronic component categories, six semiconductor subcategories and eight end markets. Also, survey results are segmented by aggregated responses from manufacturers, distributors and manufacturer representatives.
Interested in reading the entire ECST report? Click here for more information.
