Fujitsu Semiconductor Europe repositions itself as a distributor
Fujitsu, who as a semiconductor vendor used to have a strong standing in the automotive electronics business as well as in industrial electronics and the telecommunications industry, will distinguish itself from other distributors through its expertise, said Tripkewitz. “With regards to the product spectrum we will offer we certainly won’t have the bandwidth of large distributors such as, for instance, Arrow”, the new president said. “Instead we will search for market niches where our technological know-how is requested and will be paid for.” These markets are widely identical with Fujitsu’s traditional clientele, but Tripkewitz said he will widen the scope carefully. He sees good chances in the fast-growing market of medical electronics. In addition to the bare hardware expertise, the new distributor will also build up competence in the area of low-level software, as far as the increasing trend to implement functions in software will require doing so. “Software won’t be our primary focus” he added.
But technical expertise is not all that gives FEEU an edge in the though competition in the distribution business, believes Tripkewitz. Being able to draw on the global expertise of a global electronics group, the company also will run a warehouse under its own direction. “If necessary, we are capable of doing simple order fulfilment at competitive prices”, Tripkewitz explained.
The new-born distributor who is active since January 1st, will resell the products it formerly owned, such as Socionext for graphics controllers and Cypress for automotive MCUs. The product spectrum will be rounded off LEDs (including automotive headlights) from Dominant. In the medium term, Tripkewitz will add sensor products and FPGA development boards. And it will contract third party providers to complement its product spectrum. Towards this end, the company is currently in search mode. However, Tripkewitz plans to offer only one manufacturer’s product for every market segment the company cover. “As far as possible, we want to avoid offering competing products”, he said.
The conversion of Fujitsu’s European branch to a distributor is part of the global Fujitsu group’s entire restructuring process. This process, Tripkewitz said, has been triggered by the insight that the company’s main market Japan is widely saturated and that growth can be achieved abroad in in first place, Tripkewitz said. Where possible, growth will be achieved organically, that is by selling more products. In specific cases, takeovers and acquisitions “cannot be ruled out”, Tripkewitz concluded.
To highlight is new alignment, FSEU also relaunched its website. The new site can be visited here: www.fujitsu.com/feeu