SIC 5065 Electronic Parts and Equipment, Not Elsewhere Classified

SIC 5065

This industry consists of companies that wholesale electronic parts and electronic communications equipment not classified elsewhere. Industry products include semiconductors, modems, telephone equipment, amateur radio communications equipment, recording, cassettes, diskettes, and public address equipment.

NAICS CODE(S)

421690

Other Electronic Parts and Equipment Wholesalers

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there were nearly 20,397 establishments employing approximately 338,488 in the electronic parts and equipment industry in 2001. By 2003, the total number of establishments increased to 23,601, with about 276,822 employees. The industry generated $119.2 billion in annual sales. The average sales per establishment was about $6.70 million. States with the highest number of establishments were California with 4,673, Florida with 1,975, Texas with 1,956, and New York with 1,811.

The electronic parts and equipment industry began in the late nineteenth century, when it primarily served the telegraph industry. After Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone (1875), and Thomas Edison invented the light bulb (1879), the United States used more electricity. And, as manufacturers offered new electric inventions, wholesale distribution systems were developed to deliver these products to market.

The industry fell into a recession during the 1980s but rebounded by 1987, only to experience a second setback in industry growth—to less than 2 percent—in 1991. Conditions improved slightly in late 1992, as delivery lead times increased; the number of electronic parts distribution companies totaled 15,329 by the end of that year, and combined industry sales totaled $106 billion. Yet, just as industry forecasters predicted that U.S. exporters would sell more to developing markets in Asia, Western Europe, Canada, and Mexico, the industry suffered a recurrence of depressed conditions. A renewed slump in the distribution industry began in 1995 and lasted for three years.

During the remainder of the 1990s, industry players moved toward consolidation; and, due in part to instability in Latin America and an economic crisis in the Far East, U.S. exports slowed dramatically. Distributors rushed to synchronize supply with demand during this decline, which, unfortunately, lasted into the third quarter of 1998. Finally, near the end of the fiscal year, stock prices in the industry hit bottom—a four-year low that...