Top 50 EMS Providers Cross $150-Billion Mark

Manufacturing Market Insider, a newsletter specializing in the EMS industry, has released its annual MMI Top 50 list of the world's largest EMS providers. Sales of the Top 50 EMS providers for 2008 totaled $158.5 billion, a new high. Despite last year's bad economic news, Top 50 revenue grew collectively by 7.7% in 2008.

"You can spin this result two ways. It shows that the EMS industry can grow even during a recessionary period. But without the contribution of the largest provider, Hon Hai, Top 50 growth drops to 1.4 percent, an indication that the other 49 companies as a whole were unable to generate much growth last year," said John Tuck, editor and publisher of Manufacturing Market Insider.

MMI Top 50 providers were ranked based on 2008 sales in U.S. dollars. In order, the top ten were Hon Hai, Flextronics, Jabil Circuit, Celestica, Sanmina-SCI, Elcoteq, New Kinpo Group, Venture, Benchmark Electronics, and Universal Scientific Industrial. A top-ten ranking required $2.06 billion in revenue.

In addition to ranking providers by 2008 sales, MMI Top 50 listings include sales growth, previous rank, number of employees, number of plants, facility space, space in low-cost regions, number of SMT lines and customer data. This special section was published in the March 2009 edition of MMI.

To make the Top 50, providers needed a minimum of $209 million in sales for 2008. The cutoff point decreased by $20 million from the year before.

Founded in 1991, Manufacturing Market Insider is a monthly newsletter providing dedicated coverage of the EMS industry. Available in both printed and electronic form, the newsletter is published by JBT Communications, based in Burlington. Annual subscriptions cost $485 in North America. Visit MMI's web site at www.mfgmkt.com.