In Q2 2026, the financial results of the world's top four chip distributors were all released, with overall performance significantly exceeding expectations. WT Microelectronics, WPG Holdings, and Avnet all posted single-quarter revenue growth at recent-year highs: WT Microelectronics surged 128% year-over-year, WPG Holdings 82.2%, and Avnet 48%. It is worth noting that WT Microelectronics had already achieved 100% year-over-year growth in Q1, and its growth accelerated further in Q2.

With all companies generally on the rise, why did WT Microelectronics achieve growth exceeding 100% and lead the industry? What are the growth drivers for the other three? And how does each company forecast Q3 market conditions?

The growth logic of the four companies is highly convergent: AI data centers serve as the core growth engine, followed by automotive, industrial, and energy storage; consumer electronics remain weak but can no longer drag down overall performance. In terms of growth rate, the two Ws (WT and WPG) are significantly faster than the two As (Arrow and Avnet): WT +128%, WPG +82.2%, Avnet +48%, Arrow +32%.

Revenue hit an all-time high, with profit growth outpacing revenue growth. Quarterly operating profit reached NT$13 billion, a year-over-year surge of 179%. Three pillars support the growth: explosive demand from AI data centers; better-than-expected recovery in non-AI businesses such as industrial, automotive, and consumer; and the acquired Future's Q2 revenue grew over 40% year-over-year, with book-to-bill (B/B) ratios greater than 1 in the US and European markets. Leveraging economies of scale, revenue doubled while operating expenses rose only 9%, with continuous improvement in the expense ratio.

Business improvement was outstanding, with Q1 year-over-year growth of 27.2%, surging to 82.2% in Q2, and a quarter-over-quarter increase of 44.1%. Profit performance was impressive, with quarterly net profit breaking through NT$8 billion for the first time to NT$8.62 billion, a year-over-year increase of 294.4%; first-half operating net profit exceeded NT$20 billion, surpassing the full-year 2025 level. Growth benefited from strong demand for power chips, servers, networking, and energy storage components, steady recovery in automotive and industrial control demand, and continued expansion of high-value-added businesses such as Logistics as a Service (LaaS).

Q2 revenue was approximately US$10 billion, up 32% year-over-year. Both the components and enterprise computing businesses grew simultaneously; revenue increased across all three regions—Americas, EMEA, and Asia-Pacific—with book-to-bill ratios all above 1, and backlog orders extending into the first half of 2027. Management believes the industry is still in the early stages of recovery, with customers building safety stock in an orderly manner, representing a healthy restocking cycle; connector and passive component businesses both exceeded US$1 billion in sales for two consecutive quarters.

Sales reached $8.3 billion, up 48% year-over-year, setting a new record. Electronic components business contributed the main growth, with Asia becoming the largest growth market, while the Americas and Europe, Middle East, and Africa also grew simultaneously. The company continued to reduce inventory, with inventory days dropping from 95 days to 71 days, and the book-to-bill ratio across all regions was significantly above 1. The continued memory price increases drove revenue, with demand across data centers, networking, military/aerospace, and industrial end markets fully recovering.

All four companies saw broad revenue growth but with clear divergence in growth rates. WT Microelectronics led the market with a 128% increase, driven by three key factors:

Over several years, WT Microelectronics completed its business restructuring: its former largest business, mobile phones, shrank from 26.1% of revenue to 6.7%, while data center and server business share climbed to 59.2%. In Q2, data center revenue surged 274% year-over-year, and communications business grew 94%. Meanwhile, automotive, industrial, consumer electronics, and PC businesses all improved across the board. Over 80% of revenue is now deployed in high-growth computing, industrial, communications, and automotive tracks, providing ample growth elasticity.

Although the product mix change weighed on gross margin, economies of scale drove operating margin up against the trend, with profit growth far exceeding revenue growth. The acquired Future continued to contribute incremental growth, and combined with multiple IC categories and passive components starting to raise prices in Q2 (excluding memory), both volume and price increases helped drive performance.

Semiconductor regional growth data shows that the Americas, Asia-Pacific, and China markets are growing faster than Europe. WT Microelectronics deploys nearly 87% of revenue in Greater China and the U.S., while WPG Holdings concentrates over 85% of revenue in Greater China. In contrast, Arrow and Avnet have about 30% of their business in Europe, where growth is weaker, which somewhat dragged down their overall growth rates. However, both Double-A companies also achieved their best performance in nearly three years, and all companies are continuously increasing investment in Asia and the AI track.

All four companies are optimistic about the three main tracks: AI computing, automotive, and industrial. WT predicts that Q3 data center revenue will dip in the short term due to shipment pacing, rebound strongly in Q4, with a positive long-term outlook; Arrow believes the industry is in the early stages of recovery, with no irrational hoarding phenomenon as seen in 2021. At the industry level, global semiconductor sales reached US$403.3 billion in Q2 2026, up 35.1% quarter-over-quarter. Institutions expect the full-year scale to exceed US$1.5 trillion, with AI continuously expanding the industry's growth space.

Overall, the top four chip distributors have released clear positive signals: orders continue to increase, component lead times are extending, and the industry's momentum will continue in the second half of the year.