Bishop & Associates Releases December Update to World Connector Industry Forecast 2025-2030

2025 – Not the Year we Anticipated

Industry Sales Performance by Region

In 2024, growth and decline were not equal across all regions, nor will they be in 2025. The Asia Pacific region saw the highest growth in 2024, growing +19.2%.  With growth of +12.1%, the Chinese region followed Asia Pacific. The only other region showing an increase was North America, where sales increased +6.8%. All other regions declined in 2024.

Assessing predicted performance in 2025, Asia Pacific is anticipated to move up to the number one spot in 2025. The Asia Pacific region will be followed by China. All other regions are projected to grow in the single digits.

In addition to connector sales results varying by region in 2024, electronic connector sales also varied remarkably by market sector. In 2024, the computer & peripherals equipment/market sector saw the highest percentage growth, at +10.7%. It is interesting to note that this was the first time since 2006 that the computer & peripherals market sector outperformed all other sectors.

2025 and Beyond Outlook

With industry backlog remaining strong, Bishop is forecasting 2025 sales to increase again. When looking at growth in U.S. dollars the largest increase in sales will be seen in the Chinese region. The Chinese region will be followed by the North American region.

Forecast Assumptions

During times of world economic and geopolitical uncertainty it is very difficult to project future business conditions. Increased volatility as well as the presence of unexpected and random events that are difficult to anticipate can greatly affect economic indicators like unemployment, trade policies, or inflation. Consider the following economic headwinds, political challenges, and uncertainties.

• Instability in the worldwide economy. As announced by the International Monetary Fund, “while the near-term forecast is revised up modestly, global growth remains subdue, as the newly introduced polices slowly come into focus.” They continue by stating that “the overall environment remains volatile, and temporary factors that supported activity in the first half of 2025—such as front-loading—are fading. Similar sentiment is being dictated by the World Economic Forum, who states “the global economy is entering a period of weak growth and systemic disruption, and that “some 72% of surveyed chief economists expect the global economy to weaken over the next year, amid intensifying trade disruption, rising policy uncertainty and accelerating technological change.” All fundamental changes that will play out in future trade, fiscal policy, and debt, and that could potentially spiral into areas like the financial markets and monetary policies. It was also noted “with global public debt levels mounting, the chief economists surveyed highlight that debt vulnerabilities, once largely associated with emerging economies, are increasingly centred in advanced ones – 80% expect risks in advanced economies to grow in the year ahead. Fiscal vulnerabilities are also more frequently identified among the top growth inhibitors in advanced economies (41%) compared to developing economies (12%).” It will be interesting to hear the outcome of the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in January 2026 taking place in Davos Switzerland.
• Although in the U.S., the Feds dropped interest rates by 0.25 percentage points in September and October of 2025, the lowest level in three years, many are still concerned if this will be enough to keep growth steady, in the face of continuing economic uncertainty. With the supposed plan of giving a boost to the economy, lower interest rates make it cheaper to borrow money and in turn, prompt businesses to take out loans to expand production and hire more people. There is also hope and speculation that the drop will correlate to a drop in mortgage rates, which have been hovering around 7% over the last couple of years. Unfortunately, because a drop in interest rates primarily affects the rates banks use to lend money to each other, it is not going to affect the “interest rate spread” or the interest rates paid by businesses and consumers in the same way. Thus, making it highly unlikely that mortgage interest rates are going to drop drastically in the next few months. Also, there is still some question as to how the drop in the U.S. will affect the global central banks. Many feel that these cuts are a definite sign of economic conditions worsening worldwide, prompting many other countries to also look at cutting interest rates. Note: there is still a good chance that the Feds will cut interest rates by an additional 0.25 percentage points one more time before the year is over.
• In addition to these, other forecast assumptions will also be discussed, these will cover supply change issues, political tensions, labor issues, as well as tariffs, commodity prices, and cybersecurity to name a few.
• There are also some interesting projections as to why we will see connector growth in 2026 and beyond, and what that growth will be. These include factors such as strong bookings, historical growth, and low unemployment coupled with strong consumer spending.

This forecast report details the markets where Bishop anticipates growth, and which subsectors will drive that growth. The Forecast report provides projections for the period 2025F through 2030F, with year-over-year percent change and five-year CAGR by region, market sector, and sub-sector.

Will the industry continue to grow, and which years may not be as strong as others?

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