Elcoteq is an electronics manufacturing services (EMS) company. The company provides its customers with services that cover the entire lifecycle of products, from product development to after-sales. The products are manufactures under the customer's brand.

Characteristic of the communications electronics business is its rapid pace, along with intense competition and large fluctuations in business volumes, all of which makes forecasting challenging in this sector. OEMs increasingly need external partners to supplement their own resources and ensure their competitiveness. By outsourcing the customers can focus on their core business.

In 2008, no single customer accounted for more than 40% of consolidated net sales. The largest customers (in alphabetical order) were EADS, Ericsson, Funai, Huawei, Nokia Devices, Nokia Siemens Networks, Philips, Research in Motion (RIM), Sony Ericsson and Thomson.

Development of the Electronics Market

The estimated total assembly value of the global electronics market grew by roughly 5% on the annual level and exceeded the landmark figure of 1,000 billion US dollars in 2008. In 2009, the total assembly value is expected to increase only slightly, or to be even a bit negative due to the general slowdown the world economy.

The electronics manufacturing services (EMS) market alone was valued roughly 200 billion US dollars in 2008, based on the average estimates. This represents annual EMS market growth of about 11%. 

Apart from the growing general electronics market, EMS growth was driven by greater usage of outsourcing in electronics manufacturing – a trend that is expected to continue in the future as well. Generic EMS market growth is expected to be around 8–10% on average during the next five years, based on the figures of industry research data providers. The average growth estimate for 2009 is about 5%.

Elcoteq holds a strong position in the EMS company in the world. Elcoteq’s role is particularly strong in mobile phone manufacturing, where the company is the world’s third largest EMS provider. The company is ranked as Europe’s biggest and the sixth largest in the EMS market.