Bishop’s Connector Industry Forecast for 2026

In 2025, the global connector industry experienced the strongest year-over-year growth since the industry made its strong comeback the year following the COVID shutdown. Bishop & Associates shares insights on the year that was and the year ahead.

Bishop & Associates has just released the updated version of their Connector Industry Forecast. This eight-chapter report provides an in-depth, and detailed forecast of the worldwide connector industry. In addition to the detailed forecasts for each region of the world (North America, Europe, Japan, China, Asia Pacific, and ROW), an industry overview is included which provides current market trends, currency fluctuation effects, and industry sales performance, as well as an outlook narrative that offers the industry insights into what to expect in 2026.

After growing +5.6% in 2024, Bishop & Associates is predicting that the connector industry will have year-over-year growth of +12.5% in 2025, the strongest year-over-year growth we have seen since the industry made its strong comeback the year following the COVID shutdown. As expected, not all regions are performing as well as others, with several regions showing double-digit growth, and others showing low single-digit year-over-year growth. In 2025, the summer months represented the beginning of double-digit year-over-year and year-to-date growth in bookings and billings. With such strong bookings, it was easy to anticipate the remainder of 2025 would experience positive growth.

Industry Sales Performance by Region

In 2024, as seen by the table below, growth and decline were not equal across all regions, nor will they be in 2025. The Asia Pacific region saw the greatest growth in 2024, growing +19.2%. With growth of +12.1%, the Chinese region followed Asia Pacific. The only other region showing an increase was North America, where sales increased +6.8%. All other regions declined in 2024, with the greatest decline in the ROW region, where sales in US dollars decreased -15.7%, followed by Japan with a decline of -13.8%. Europe, the only other region declining, showed a decrease of -3.2%.

2023 and 2024 Connector Sales by Region With Percent Change

Assessing predicted performance in 2025, Asia Pacific, who was ranked number two in 2024, is anticipated to move up to the number one spot in 2025, with sales increasing a staggering +XX.5%. The Asia Pacific region will be followed by China, where sales are anticipated to increase +XX.2% in 2025. All other regions are projected to grow in the single digits, with North America increasing +X.X%, followed by Europe at +X.X%, the Japanese region at +X.X% and the ROW at +X.X%.

2024 and 2025F Connector Sales by Region
With Percent Change Percent

In addition to connector sales results varying by region in 2024, electronic connector sales also varied remarkably by market sector. As the table below shows, in 2024, the computer & peripherals equipment/market sector saw the greatest percentage growth, at +10.7%. It is interesting to note that this was the first time since 2006 that the computer & peripherals market sector outperformed all other sectors.

2025 and Beyond Outlook

With industry backlog remaining strong, Bishop is forecasting 2025 sales to increase +Y.Y% to $XX,XXX million. We anticipate the greatest percentage increase will occur in the Asia Pacific region, where sales will increase +Y.Y%, followed by the Chinese region where sales are anticipated to increase +Y.Y%. When looking at growth in U.S. dollars, although not the greatest increase percentage-wise, the largest increase in sales will be seen in the Chinese region, where connector sales will increase by $X,XXX.X million. The Chinese region will be followed by the North American region, where sales in US dollars will increase $X,XXX.X million.

2024 and 2025F Connector Forecast by Geographic Region
With Percent Change Percent Region 2024 2025F Change

2024 and 2025F Connector Forecast by Market Sector
With Percent Change Forecast Assumptions

During times of world economic and geopolitical uncertainty it is very difficult to project future business conditions. Increased volatility as well as the presence of unexpected and random events that are difficult to anticipate can greatly affect economic indicators like unemployment, trade policies, or inflation. Consider the following economic headwinds, political challenges, and uncertainties.

• Instability in the worldwide economy is a major concern. “While the near-term forecast is revised up modestly, global growth remains subdued, as the newly introduced polices slowly come into focus,” said the International Monetary Fund. “The overall environment remains volatile, and temporary factors that supported activity in the first half of 2025 — such as front-loading — are fading.” Similar sentiment is being dictated by the World Economic Forum: “The global economy is entering a period of weak growth and systemic disruption, and that “some 72% of surveyed chief economists expect the global economy to weaken over the next year, amid intensifying trade disruption, rising policy uncertainty, and accelerating technological change.”
• Many fundamental changes will play out in future trade, fiscal policy, and debt, and could potentially spiral into areas like the financial markets and monetary policies. It was also noted “with global public debt levels mounting, the chief economists surveyed highlight that debt vulnerabilities, once largely associated with emerging economies, are increasingly centered in advanced ones – 80% expect risks in advanced economies to grow in the year ahead. Fiscal vulnerabilities are also more frequently identified among the top growth inhibitors in advanced economies (41%) compared to developing economies (12%).” It will be interesting to hear the outcome of the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in January 2026 taking place in Davos, Switzerland.

• Although in the U.S., the Feds dropped interest rates by 0.25 percentage points in September, October, and December of 2025, to the lowest level in three years, many are still concerned whether this will be enough to keep growth steady, in the face of continuing economic uncertainty. With the supposed plan of giving a boost to the economy, lower interest rates make it cheaper to borrow money and in turn, prompt businesses to take out loans to expand production and hire more people. There is also hope and speculation that the drop will correlate to a drop in mortgage rates, which have been hovering around 7% over the last couple of years. Unfortunately, because a drop in interest rates primarily affects the rates banks use to lend money to each other, it is not going to affect the “interest rate spread” or the interest rates paid by businesses and consumers in the same way. Thus, making it highly unlikely that mortgage interest rates are going to drop drastically in the next few months. Also, there is still some question as to how the drop in the U.S. will affect the global central banks. Many feel that these cuts are a definite sign of economic conditions worsening worldwide, prompting many other countries to also look at cutting interest rates.

Even so, there are also some interesting projections as to why we will see connector growth in 2026 and beyond, and what that growth will be. These include factors such as strong bookings, historical growth, and low unemployment coupled with strong consumer spending.

This report details the markets where Bishop anticipates growth, and which subsectors will drive that growth. This report provides projections for the period 2025F through 2030F, with year-over-year percent change and five-year CAGR by region, market sector, and sub-sector. Will the industry continue to grow, and which years may not be as strong as others?

Click here for additional information on Bishop’s World Connector Industry Forecast research report and for ordering details.

This content is available to subscribers of Connector Supplier through a special partnership with Bishop & Associates. No part of this article may be used without the permission of Bishop & Associates Inc.

Incorporated in 1985, Bishop & Associates, Inc. is a market research firm specializing in the connector and cable assembly industry. The firm publishes the monthly Bishop Report, a newsletter focusing on the connector industry, Industry News Briefs and Updates, The Connector Yearbook, as well as a variety of research reports covering the connector and cable assembly market, its products, and its manufacturers. The Bishop Report publishes monthly updates about the performance of the connector industry and key industry topics. Subscribe to the Bishop Report here. Contact us at [email protected] or 630.443.2702.

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