Account Manager

Avnet CFO Ken Jacobson told the Raymond James conference the electronics distributor is experiencing an uneven recovery, with Asia leading whilst Europe and the Americas lag behind. Asia has posted six consecutive quarters of growth, reaching record revenue levels, with Taiwan representing roughly 40% of regional business. Europe only returned to growth last quarter, posting 1% year-over-year growth but remaining more than 35% below peak revenue levels. The Americas showed a couple quarters of growth but remains comparable to Europe rather than Asia. Avnet operates two segments: Electronic Components, focused on high-volume production customers with 10-12% gross margins, and Farnell, a high-service model targeting design engineers with approximately 30% gross margins. Jacobson noted robust book-to-bill ratios and replenishing backlog over the past four quarters.

Avnet Silica expands secure IoT connectivity offering with Thales gsma-compliant eSIM solutions. Agreement provides access to innovative standards-based eSIM technologies for IoT deployments across EMEA. Brussels, Belgium, 3 March 2026 - Avnet Silica, an Avnet company (NASDAQ: AVT), today announced the signing of a strategic product and services agreement with Thales, a global leader in advanced technologies for the cyber and digital sectors. This new agreement covers Thales' eSIM solutions compliant with GSMA SGP.22 and SGP.32 standards, including both a standalone eSIM component and an integrated offer combining the eSIM with its remote management services. Together, Thales and Avnet Silica are able to deliver a unique turnkey solution to industrial partners, offering a single product, ready to be deployed in large-scale on the field with an embedded connectivity, provided by Avnet Silica partners. As large-scale IoT and industrial connectivity deployments continue to accelerate, engineering teams face growing security, remote subscription management, and regulatory compliance challenges. Meeting these demands requires connectivity solutions that are secure by design, standards-based, and capable of supporting large deployments across diverse operating environments. Through this agreement, Avnet Silica expands its secure and standards-compliant connectivity portfolio by providing industrial and IoT customers across EMEA with access to Thales' proven GSMA certified eSIM solutions. Thales' SGP.32 eSIM technology is designed for massive IoT deployments, supporting simplified remote provisioning and large-scale device management, while SGP.22 suits consumer and hybrid use cases where widely adopted remote SIM provisioning is required. Together, both options provide a flexible, standards-compliant foundation for connected products operating across long lifecycles and multiple regulatory regions. Under this agreement, Avnet Silica and Thales are proactively collaborating to deliver a simplified, ready-to-deploy solution compatible with any IoT device. Avnet Silica is offering a complete, ready-to-use solution based on Thales' SGP.32-compliant eSIM technology. This pre-validated end-to-end testing and deployment eliminates complex integration steps, allowing immediate adoption across Europe in key sectors such as industrial automation, smart metering, digital health, and critical infrastructure. "The growth of highly distributed IoT at scale places unprecedented demands on connectivity security, manageability, and compliance," said Thomas Foj, Vice President Supplier Management, Solutions and Digitalization EMEA, Avnet Silica. "By partnering with Thales, we are strengthening our ability to help engineering teams deploy secure, standards-based eSIM solutions that reduce complexity and support reliable operation across global deployments." "We are proud to partner with Avnet Silica to bring unity to a fragmented IoT market. Our vision is to drastically simplify how enterprises connect the world. With the new SGP.32 standard, we are eliminating the complexity of managing massive device fleets. Together, we provide the ability to scale, empowering customers to orchestrate their deployment with total confidence. This is how we build a secure foundation that is future-proof," said Guillaume Lafaix, VP Connectivity Solutions and Embedded Products at Thales For additional information on Avnet Silica's connectivity portfolio and how Thales' innovative eSIM solutions can accelerate time to market while supporting secure, scalable, and resilient connectivity deployments, please visit this link.

Western Digital has surged 32.6% over the past month, driven by strong fundamentals. The data storage company, which produces hard disk drives, SSDs and flash memory, is projected to grow revenue by 30% over the next 12 months, suggesting accelerating demand. The company's operating margin improved by 16.1 percentage points over five years, whilst free cash flow margin increased by 14.7 percentage points during the same period, providing more capital for investment or shareholder returns. In contrast, pet products company Bark and electronics distributor Avnet, which have risen 50.3% and 26.5% respectively, face challenges. Bark's 9.8% annual sales growth lags competitors and its cash-burning model raises viability concerns. Avnet has experienced declining sales and earnings per share over two years.