North American circuit board sales end 2013 down 1.9 percent over previous year, says IPC
BANNOCKBURN, Ill., 6 Feb. 2014. Printed circuit board sales in the U.S. and Canada dropped 1.9 percent in 2013 compared to the previous year, say analysts at IPC - Association Connecting Electronics Industries in Bannockburn, Ill.
Total North American circuit board shipments in December, however, increased 2.2 percent from December 2012, analysts say. Although total 2013 shipments dropped 1.9 percent last year, trends are improving in this part of the embedded computing industry, and December sales were up 6.6 percent over the prior month.
North American circuit board orders were down 1.1 percent in 2013 compared to the previous year, and December orders were down 8 percent compared to the same month in 2012.
"North American circuit board sales in December continued their slow recovery, while orders have been volatile," says Sharon Starr, IPC's director of market research. "In the current cycle, the book-to-bill ratio appears to have hit its low point in November and is beginning to climb again."
The December edition of IPC's North American circuit board market report presents detailed findings on rigid circuit board and flexible circuit sales and orders, including separate rigid and flex book-to-bill ratios, military and medical market growth, demand for prototypes, and other data.
More information about this report is online at www.ipc.org/market-research-reports.
John Keller | Editor
John Keller is editor-in-chief of Military & Aerospace Electronics magazine, which provides extensive coverage and analysis of enabling electronic and optoelectronic technologies in military, space, and commercial aviation applications. A member of the Military & Aerospace Electronics staff since the magazine's founding in 1989, Mr. Keller took over as chief editor in 1995.
