Bosch’s partnership with Arrow Electronics will significantly strengthen the supply of automotive semiconductors in Europe – an easy-to-understand explanation of the aims and implications.
Bosch and Arrow Electronics extend distribution agreement
🟦 Bosch to rebuild semiconductor distribution in the European market: partnering with Arrow Electronics
Bosch, a leading automotive semiconductor company, has announced that it has signed a new distribution agreement with Arrow Electronics, a leading distributor of electronic components, to significantly expand its supply network in the European market. Under the terms of the agreement, Arrow will handle a wide range of Bosch automotive semiconductors, from silicon carbide (SiC) power semiconductors to ASIC chips and MEMS sensors.
The alliance between the two companies, which already has a proven track record in the North American market, will be expanded to Europe. In the future, Bosch products will be available directly from Arrow’s online store, further improving the convenience and flexibility of procurement.
🟦 Industry structure and market needs behind the alliance
The background to this move is the rapid expansion of demand for electric vehicles (EVs) in Europe. In anticipation of a ban on the sale of internal combustion engine vehicles after 2035, automakers are accelerating their electrification strategies. As a result, the stable supply of high-performance, high-efficiency semiconductors has become a matter of life and death in the supply chain.
While Bosch has products that are indispensable for EVs and ADAS, such as SiC chips and MEMS sensors, the challenge has been how to deliver them stably and quickly. By partnering with Arrow, Bosch has been able to complement its distribution network and logistics capabilities to meet more diverse customer needs.
🟦Summary
The partnership between Bosch and Arrow has the potential to revolutionize the procurement of automotive semiconductors in Europe. With more sourcing options, automakers and Tier 1 suppliers can develop more flexible design and production strategies.
It is a well-known story that Bosch, a well-known automotive parts manufacturer, has been producing semiconductors in-house for its own in-vehicle systems, but we are now paying attention to the fact that it has positioned the supply of semiconductors to other companies as a full-fledged business strategy. The move to broadly deploy what used to be “chips for the company” as “products for the market” will bring about a major change in Bosch’s business model.
