DigiKey is upbeat for an upcycle

The market is cyclical, he said. “We can’t foresee Q1 or Q2 but clearly we are at the start of the next upcycle,” he told Electronics Weekly. The election result has stimulated demand, wherever you are on the political spectrum he continued, because the incoming administration is talking about continuing to stimulate the economy. “It is the same in Germany, with the [coalition] government trying to stimulate growth,” he added.

“There is a sense of calm. We have seen many elections across the globe, with the same uncertainty being replaced with certainty,” he continued.  Returning to the cyclical nature of the industry, Doherty said: “We have been at the bottom of the trough for the last five to six months and it is starting to show upgrowth in terms of revenue and number of shipments. We are at the start of an upturn.”

The company focused on early support for designers at this year’s electronica, in particular development boards. People are innovating but waiting to gauge the right time to introduce a product to market. Many decisions demand on market conditions: will hybrid vehicles win out over full electric vehicles in the US, is one example. Another is AI, which Doherty described as a narrow, deep segment which is moving to the edge.

“DigiKey is a mouthpiece,” he said. It does not serve Tier 1 automotive companies, for example, but a broad customer base with emerging third parties and “a host of ecosystems”.

DigiKey has added 50,000 additional customers across the globe in 2024, confirmed Doherty and recorded its highest customer count in EMEA in October this year. Board sales have increased, he reported, serving engineers who want something more developed for a specific application.