State of the Industry: 2022-2023 Connector Sales
Bishop & Associates’ new report details global connector sales by region, market, and product category for 2022-2023, with insights into 2023 and beyond. In brief: Sales were down in 2022 — except where they were up.
Bishop & Associates has been tracking the activities of the global connector industry for more than 40 years, including a detailed analysis of each year’s connector sales by equipment sector, product category, and region. Each year, the firm shares its assessment of the recent past performance in historical context, creating a cyclical understanding of the connector industry’s growth and contraction cycles and its responses to major global events. The 2024 edition of this research, 2024 World Connector Market Handbook, is now available.
After growing 7.8% in 2022, the global connector industry experienced a downturn in 2023. Bishop & Associates found that sales from 2022 to 2023 decreased 2.7% in all regions except for Europe and the Rest of World (ROW) regions. Decreasing over $2.2 billion in US dollars, connector industry sales decreased -2.7% from 2022 to 2023. All regions except Europe and ROW experienced a decrease in sales, with Japan showing the greatest decrease, declining -9.5% followed by the Asia Pacific region where sales declined -7.3%. Europe, which had the greatest increase, saw connector sales grow +3.8%, while sales in the ROW region increased 0.9%.
The following chart shows the percent change in world connector sales by year, beginning in 1981, the year Bishop & Associates began tracking the industry. In the past 44 years, there have been only 10 sales declines. In 2009, industry sales were down -21.8%, setting a record for the worst year in industry history. In 2010, industry sales grew +28.2 percent, resulting in the greatest year-over-year change in history. Connector sales have turned around in late 2023 and early 2024, but not at the dramatic levels we saw in 2010. Bishop forecasts connector sales to grow 4.2% in 2024.
Regional Summary
As the tables below indicate, the mixed results based on region of the world in 2023, created a variety of changes to the 5-, 10-, and 20-year compounded annual growth rates (CAGR). Comparing 2023 to 2024F with 2022 to 2023, you see that the total world CAGR dropped for each period, but individual regions saw their CAGR’s increase based on their growth. For example, Europe who had growth in 2023, saw their five, 10- and 20-year CAGR increase while, in China, where sales declined in 2023, the (delete this word) CAGR during those same periods declined. In regions where the growth or decline was under 1.0%, in many instances, the CAGR remained unchanged or fluctuated very little.
End-Use Equipment Sectors
Telecom/datacom was the largest end-use equipment sector for electronic connector products, followed by automotive. It is anticipated in 2024 that telecom/datacom will remain the largest end-use equipment sector, once again followed by automotive. Business/office equipment showed the smallest growth in 2023. (Detailed definitions of each market sector are available at https://www.connectorindustry.com.)
The full 230-page report explores the past years’ performance in rich detail, and addresses questions about connector sales in specific market sectors and product types, including a breakdown of copper and fiber products; regional performance and patterns; the impact of new technologies, including electric vehicles; how ongoing political and economic woes many countries are facing affect the growth in the military market; and a preliminary 2024 and 2029 sales forecast.
The report details connector industry sales by region, end-use equipment sector, and product type. Utilizing tables and graphs, key statistics are provided for total world, as well as by individual region.
Learn more about the 2024 World Connector Market Handbook.
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