Cleveland, O.— U.S. demand for passive electronic components is expected to increase 5% annually to more than $17 billion through 2002, according to a recent report, Passive Components, by the Freedonia Group Inc. This increase is slower than 1992-97's pace, and reflects cyclical factors, such as slowing demand for passive-containing OEM products, including personal computers, motor vehicles, industrial electronics, and others. Offseting support is expected from emerging or high-growth sectors, such as intelligent transportation systems, wireless telephony, fiber-optic data transmission, multimedia, and smart cards.

Meanwhile, the report says shipments of passive components will increase slightly slower than demand, exceeding $15 billion by 2002. This will widen the U.S. trade deficit, while Japanese and other Asian producers will benefit at least temporarily from recent currency valuation realignments relative to the U.S. dollar.

The report adds that, while most passive electronic components are in mature markets, those with above-average growth prospects include fiber-optic connectors, multilayer ceramic capacitors, radio (RF) and higher frequency inductance devices, ferrite microwave components, and surface-mounted resistors and resistor networks. Likewise, increasingly prevalent integrated passive components (IPCs), which include different passive component features (and sometimes active devices) in a single package, will continue healthy growth, though some may come at the expense of discrete passive devices.

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