Research: How the Electronics Industry is Responding to COVID-19

ByteSnap Design’s industry-wide survey has uncovered key concerns and priorities for UK electronics companies in our new report: Navigating COVID-19: The New Normal.

We surveyed electronics sector personnel across a range of industries including automotive, industrial, MedTech and components during May 2020.

ByteSnap Director Dunstan Power says: “We are in the midst of the most extreme pandemic this world has seen in years. Now, more than ever, electronics companies have an opportunity to show how we can support our healthcare systems and governments in fighting to protect lives, while also positioning ourselves to protect our businesses and employees.

“At ByteSnap Design, we are proud to work on IoT, healthcare and tracking devices, and have successfully implemented a remote working set up so that we can continue to support our clients. However, the electronics community is not homogeneous.

“Against this backdrop, we decided to survey electronics professionals in the UK about the current state of the sector, the challenges they face, how they are fighting COVID-19 and their plan to survive.”

Main survey findings for electronics industry include:

1. 1. Impact on electronics industry – 16% were unsure how the coronavirus would impact the electronics industry, the remaining respondents anticipated the following over the next 18 months: drop in demand 36%, supply chain disruption 18%, increased opportunities 13%, onshoring 9% and prioritising products to fight COVID-19 8%
   2. Changes in demand – 43% of respondents expected demand for their products or services to decrease, while positively 23% anticipated an increase. 34% felt demand would stay the same
   3. Recovery time – an encouraging 22% of respondents are not experiencing any dip in sales activity, while the majority of respondents (86%) believe we will be back to normal within a year. 12% expect recovery to take from 12 months to two years and sadly 3% expect that they will never recover
   4. Combating COVID-19 – A surprising 58% of respondents said that they are helping in the fight against COVID-19; reflecting the number of semiconductor vendors who responded to our survey and are supplying into industries supporting the fight against the virus.
      • 43% of those who were helping were involved in equipment development, with the majority focusing on medical devices, and 19% stepping up to help with the Ventilator Challenge
   5. Plans to weather the pandemic – innovating (30%) and being flexible (29%), followed by 21% of respondents citing the need to be lean and engage in good financial management.

To discover more on how the electronics design industry is weathering the crisis and for predictions on the sector’s post-pandemic future, download the full report by clicking on the link below:

Take me to the Full Report downloadable PDF