Sales sentiment for electronic components reached its highest level in five years, dating back to 2021, according to the Electronic Component Sales Trends (ECST) March survey from the Electronic Components Industry Association (ECIA).
The overall sales sentiment index was up to 149.2 points with all three major categories seeing solid improvement led by electro-mechanical with a jump of 20.2 points.
A score of above 100 represents growth in the ECIA report.
Among the 10 sub-categories for electronic components, seven rose above 150 and two sub-categories topped 160 points. End markets also rose by 16.1 points to reach 161.8 in March.
Softening sentiment
However, the ECIA warned that looking toward April, the overall index will likely shrink slightly with end markets also seeing a minor drop back to about 145.3 points. This will still represent impressive growth for all sectors.
In terms of manufacturer representatives, manufacturers and distributors, all three groups reported positive sales sentiment in every sub-category of electronic components from February to April.
Hard to find a negative
The ECIA said the end market index scores had little negativity, if any.
Many end-markets had zero reports of worsening marketing including the overall average. Consumer electronics components was the exception with 12% of survey respondents seeing a worsening market.
However, index scores improved 25% to above 60% from the previous month. The only exception was mobile phones that jumped 12%.
The overall sentiment for end markets found a highly positive market environment that is continuing into April.
Lead times jump
Perhaps one area of concern was that 61% of ECIA survey respondents found lead time pressure surging. None of those surveyed found a decrease in lead times. The greatest pressure is found by the semiconductor segment with 78% of survey respondents reporting increasing lead times.
The mismatch between supply and demand for memory ICs continues to be a concern for the health of the electronics components market. ECIA calls this development one of the most critical areas of supply chain management in 2026.
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.
