The table below displays sales of the top 10 connector manufacturers for the years 1990, 1995, 2000 and 2005.

A close examination of these companies, over the time frame, provides a lot of information about the history of the connector industry.

For example, in 1990 the top 10 manufacturers accounted for 40.7% of world demand for connectors. This increased to a top 10 market share of 53.0% in 2005.

Some of the increases in top 10 market share, from 40.7% to 53.0%, were a result of internal growth as large, multinational OEMs directed more business to large connector companies with a global manufacturing and engineering footprint. However, a significant amount of market share gain came through acquisitions as smaller companies merged with top 10 manufacturers.

Some of the major acquisitions during the 1990-2005 time frame includes:

AMP, which later became Tyco, acquired a lot of companies. The more notable being M/A-Com (1995), Elcon (1999), Siemens Components (1999), Thomas & Betts connectors (2000). Note: Thomas & Betts had previously acquired Augat. 

Molex primarily grew internally, but made a few small acquisitions: Winchester Europe (1991), Mod-Tap (1995) Cardell (1999) and Beau Interconnect (2000). Molex just announced the purchase of Woodhead whose sales numbers are not included in the previous table.

Amphenol Corporation has made many small acquisitions, generally two to five per year. Some of these include: The Sine companies (1996), Kai-Jack (1997), Matrix Science (1997), Confektion E GmbH (2000), U-Jin Cable, Air LB, Teradyne military connectors (2000), RS Technology (1996). Recent acquisitions include Teradyne Connector Systems (2005) and Alden Products (2006).

FCI has been a large acquirer of connector companies. The major acquisitions have been Burndy Corporation and Berg Electronics.

Delphi was part of General Motors during most of this time frame. However, they have made one small acquisition, Specialty Electronics.

Japanese connector companies have not participated in the acquisition market.

We estimate that the top 10 connector manufacturers acquired about $3.0 billion of additional sales between 1990 and 2005. This is about 8.5% of world connector demand.

The following table identifies the change in market share by company from 1990 to 2005.

Due to an aggressive acquisition strategy, Tyco gained more market share, 4.4 share points during the past 15 years.

Molex doubled their market share from 3.6% in 1990, to 7.4% in 2005. The company achieved an incredible 15-year growth rate of 10.4%, mostly through internal growth.

In spite of recent successes, Amphenol has increased market share only 1.2% from 1990 to 2005. This is because the company achieved no growth in the first half of the 1990s. Since 1995, Amphenol has “picked up the pace”, posting a CAGR of 13.4% from 1995 through 2000. Additionally, Amphenol achieved a CAGR of 9.0% during the five-year period 2000-2005. This is the period in which other manufacturers were flat, or growing only one or two percent points. We look for Amphenol’s market share to increase significantly during the next five to 10 years.

The following table identifies sales growth rates, by company, in five-year, ten-year, and fifteen-year time frames.

Since 1995, Amphenol has achieved an 11.2% CAGR, growing faster than the other top 10 companies. Particularly impressive is the 9.0% CAGR in the 2000-2005 time frame. During the same period, Tyco had a CAGR of 0.3%, Molex 1.4% and FCI -6.8%.

The Japanese connector companies have also had excellent growth since 1990. JST leads with a CAGR of 8.5% between1990-2005, Yazaki 7.0%, Hirose 7.4%, and JAE 7.4%. All of these companies are above the top 10 CAGR of 7.1%.

If you want to learn more about the top 10, as well as the top 100 connector manufacturers, go to the Web site, http://www.connectorindustry.com, click on Research Reports, and select our new report “2006 Top 100 Connector Manufacturers”. You will find an overview of the report, table of contents and ordering information.