This article puts the market situation of 2025 into context. Figures, forecasts, and regulatory deadlines are therefore clearly dated. For current 2026 developments, see our market analysis in the btv magazine.
In 2025, the electronics industry sat between falling real production, continued cost pressure, and a structural shift in semiconductor supply chains. While new capacity was concentrated around high-performance technologies, supply of older chip generations used in automotive and industrial applications remained a risk factor.
For manufacturers, this was more than a macroeconomic story: procurement, component availability, and evidence requirements directly shaped production and product planning.
| Period | What happened / what was expected | Source |
| 2023 | Global electrical and digital-industry goods market: roughly €5.8 trillion. | ZVEI market outlook |
| 2024 | German electrical and digital industry: €223.2bn revenue; real production down about 9.1%. | ZVEI, 2025 fact sheet |
| 2025 | The sector remained under pressure in real terms; later data showed nominal revenue recovery but no broad real-production turnaround. | ZVEI, 2025/2026 updates |
| 2026 | ZVEI expects real production growth of 2% after three years of stagnation and decline. | ZVEI, 2026 fact sheet |
Five Challenges that converged in 2025
Supply Security and Supply Chains
Semiconductor availability remained a risk, particularly for older technologies that stay in use for years in automotive and industrial applications. New capacity tends to follow demand for newer generations; that does not automatically relieve legacy nodes, analogue components, or other mature technologies.
The practical consequence: supply capability has to be planned earlier than the next purchase order. Visibility over critical parts, clear ownership and allocation logic, and a deliberate buffer where a bill of materials offers no substitute all matter more than a late reaction.
Digitalisation, AI and Industry 4.0
Digitalisation and AI are changing demand for compute, memory, and connected components. At the same time, automation and connected production processes raise the requirements for data quality, planning, and cybersecurity across the electronics supply chain.
Skills and Operational Capacity
Skills shortages affect more than engineering and manufacturing. They also affect programming, testing, packaging, and documentation. Where these steps create bottlenecks, documented external process capacity can remove operational load.
Sustainability and Energy Efficiency
Higher energy and material costs increase the pressure to keep components and assemblies usable for longer. Sustainability is therefore not only about end-of-life recycling, but also about whether a component that already exists can stay in use through suitable storage and care.
Regulation and Cybersecurity
As products become more connected, requirements for security and evidence increase. The Cyber Resilience Act, NIS2 and — for internet-connected radio equipment — EN 18031 address different layers. Their shared practical question is simple: are firmware, component movements, and process steps documented in a way that can be proven?
Read: NIS2 or CRA? The difference for electronics manufacturers
Read: EN 18031 explained — The Cybersecurity Standard That Already Applies
Where Opportunity Remains
The electronics industry remains central to the energy transition, e-mobility, automation, health technologies, and connected systems. But growth does not come from demand alone. It comes from a supply chain that can absorb shortages, long product lifecycles, and regulatory requirements without turning each into a production interruption.
From Market Observation to Supply-Chain Decisions
Market uncertainty cannot be forecast away. But companies can decide who owns their components, how early they see critical risks, and which process steps they need to maintain themselves.
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btv TAK® — Component Logistics Without a Trading Margin
With btv TAK®, customers negotiate prices and volumes directly with manufacturers. btv technologies manages logistics and services while the goods belong to the customer from goods receipt. This creates transparency across stock, movement, and cost — especially when market allocation rules apply.
Component Services — Line-Ready Instead of an Extra Process Step
Testing, taping, packaging, and programming prepare components for the next step in your production. Use the services individually or connect them with logistics and storage — without coordinating multiple interfaces.
btv SEEL® — Evidence Starts with Programming
For safety-critical or regulated applications, btv SEEL® adds cryptographic signatures and a complete audit trail to programming. Conformity of the final product remains with the manufacturer; btv SEEL® provides the evidence needed from the programming stage onward.
Long-Term Storage — Protecting Components for Longer Lifecycles
When a product lifecycle lasts longer than the lifecycle of its semiconductor, long-term storage protects components from moisture, ESD, and ageing risks. That creates the basis for making spare parts and series volumes available on demand for years.
What Matters Now
The electronics-industry crisis of 2025 was not a single event. It made visible how strongly production capability depends on supply-chain transparency, component quality, and documented processes. Companies that organise these topics only once a shortage hits are reacting. Companies that structure them earlier retain options.
