by Ronald Bishop | The top ten connector manufacturers, collectively, reached $38.7 billion in annual sales in 2019, covering 60.2% of global connector demand, a percentage up from 59.5% the previous year.
The top four connector manufacturers are American companies(TE, Amphenol, Molex and Aptiv); three companies in the ranking are Japanese(Yazaki, JAE and JST); only one company is European(Rosenberger), just as only one is from the Asia Pacific region(Foxconn Taiwan) and only one is Chinese(Luxshare). However, the overall decline of 2.7% for all companies is less than that of the industry as a whole (-3.8%). The best performance among the top ten companies was the result of acquisitions made in 2019 and the almost double-digit growth of Luxshare Precision, China's leading connector manufacturer. It should be noted that the top three companies in the ranking, TE Connectivity, Molex and Amphenol, are very active in terms of acquisitions, and that Rosenberger entered the Top Ten in 2017: until then it was among the top 15 companies.
Changing market shares
In 1980, the top ten connector manufacturers met 38% of global demand, while in 2019 this share reaches 60%: this growth is largely due to acquisitions made by companies in the ranking. Indeed, in the last decade we have seen significant Merge & Acquisition activity: TE acquired Deutsch in 2011 for $670 million; in 2012 Aptiv (Delphi) acquired FCI's MVL division for $950 million; Molex acquired Oplink Communications for $200 million in 2014; Amphenol acquired FCI in 2016 and Conec in 2019; most recently, in 2018, Aptiv acquired Winchester for $650 million. In total, there have then been alternate 50 acquisitions over the past five years.
A bit of history and geography
Since 1980 there has been a drastic change in the companies that make up the Top Ten; some companies have moved up in the rankings, others have dropped out of the top ten, and still others are no longer in the industry or have been acquired by larger entities.
TE Connectivity has remained the largest connector company since 1980: the name changed from AMP to Tyco International to Tyco Electronics and finally to today's TE Connectivity. Molex and Amphenol have remained in the Top 10 for all of the past 39 years: Molex rose from tenth in 1980 to third in 2019, while Amphenol, which was second in 1980 dropped to fifth in 2000 before rising to third and second in 2010 and 2019, respectively. A few companies dropped out of the Top Ten, however: ITT Cannon, DuPont (Berg), 3M, Winchester, Augat, Cinch and Burndy. DuPont (Berg) was acquired by Framatone (FCI) in 1998 and later by Amphenol in 2016. Augat on the other hand had been absorbed by Thomas Betts in 1996 and in turn the Oem division of Thomas & Betts was acquired by Tyco Electronics in 2000. Cinch was acquired by Bel in 2010 and Burnsy by Framatone (FCI). ITT and 3M are still in the global rankings in 2019, but are not in the top ten companies.
Looking at the geographic origin of the companies mentioned, note that in 1980, no Asian companies appeared in the rankings, while in 2019, Asia is represented by five companies.
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