January highlights:
While global design activities experienced a slowdown in January, global sourcing activities showed a rebound from the previous month.
Global design activities saw a decrease of 3% compared to the previous month, primarily due to softening activities in the APAC region. However, there was a nominal increase in activity levels in the EMEA and Americas regions. Year-over-year, global design activities grew by 3% compared to January 2023.
Global sourcing activities saw a notable increase of 27% month-over-month in January, with activity levels rising across all regions. However, compared to January 2023, global demand remained soft, with a 13% decrease in sourcing activities worldwide.
Capacitors, inductors, filters, and switches experienced significant increases in activity from both engineers and buyers in January, attributed to the impact of the New Year’s Day earthquake in Japan that impacted certain suppliers in the country.
Q1 2024 outlook:
Following a slower-than-anticipated beginning in January, global design activity projections have been revised downward to maintain stability quarter-over-quarter for calendar Q1 2024 instead of the previously expected growth of +2%.
Projections remain steady, with an anticipated quarter-over-quarter growth of +3% in global sourcing activities.
