Benchmark Electronics (BHE) Raymond James 2024 TMT & Consumer Conference summary

Company overview and strategic positioning

• Provides engineering and manufacturing services with a diversified sector footprint, limiting exposure to any single market.

• Operates 22 manufacturing facilities and 7 design centers globally, supporting customers from product design to high-volume manufacturing.

• Focuses on higher value, higher complexity markets, leveraging over 400 product development engineers.

• Maintains one of the largest North American footprints among EMS peers, supporting sensitive sectors like aerospace and defense.

• Leadership team blends industry veterans and internal promotions, recently adding experienced executives from major manufacturing firms.

Market trends and sector outlook

• Aerospace and defense, and semiconductor capital equipment are the strongest growth drivers, with double-digit growth in semi-cap and robust demand in defense.

• Industrial sector has stabilized with new wins and expected recovery; medical and advanced compute are more challenged in the near term.

• Supercomputing projects are a focus, but not directly targeting cloud AI markets; AI growth indirectly benefits semi-cap business.

• Outsourcing trends continue, especially in sectors like aerospace and defense, which remain less penetrated by EMS providers.

Global footprint, supply chain, and tariffs

• Flexible global footprint allows adaptation to customer needs, with significant capacity in the U.S., Mexico, Southeast Asia, and Europe.

• Tariff impacts are managed by passing costs to customers; recent shifts have driven some customers to move production out of China.

• Investments in Romania, Malaysia, and Mexico expand capacity and support nearshoring and supply chain resilience.

• Supply chain strategy includes local sourcing for bulky items and global sourcing for components, with a focus on building robust regional ecosystems.