La Jornada: Concentration of exports puts the electronic industry at risk

The main drive for Mexico’s foreign trade today – the manufacturing of computing, communication, measurement and electronic components equipment – ​​rests on a high concentration, especially because almost all production originates in five states.

According to data from the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (Inegi), in the first quarter of the year, exports from the manufacturing of computing, communication, measurement and electronic components equipment shot up 95.6 percent annually, reaching 50.78 million dollars.

Around 92 percent of the value of these exports goes to the United States and about 96 percent originate in Chihuahua, Jalisco, Baja California, Nuevo León and Tamaulipas.

Figures from Inegi show that, between last January and March, the five states that dominate exports of computing, communication, measurement and electronic components equipment added a combined value equivalent to 48,160.7 million dollars.

Chihuahua is not only the federal entity that leads the export group of this subsector, with an export value of 26 thousand 48.5 million dollars, and with 54.1 percent participation among the other four states that concentrate production, but it also achieved record exports, with an annual growth of 118.96 percent.

“The performance of the computer equipment sector in Mexico rests on a structure of high concentration that exposes it to three risks: more than 90 percent of exports go to the United States, 67.25 percent of those imports go to Texas and more than 90 percent of production originates in five states,” stated Gabriela Siller, director of economic studies at Banco Base.

The transformation

In general, exports of manufacturing products represented 92.3 percent of the total in the first quarter of the year, which is why they continued to be the main driver of the country’s sales abroad, followed by mining, which represented 4.8 percent of the total.

Arely Medina, an analyst in the economic studies area of ​​Banamex, described that Chihuahua was the entity with the greatest contribution to manufacturing exports, with 24.3 percent of the national total. Exports of computing, communication, measurement and other electronic components stand out, which together represented 52 percent of the national total. Jalisco contributed 11.6 percent of total exports, of which 27.4 percent correspond to subsector 334, as Inegi classifies exports of computing, communication, measurement and electronic components equipment.

In Nuevo León, national manufacturing exports were 9.9 percent of the national total, highlighting accessories, electrical appliances and electrical energy generation equipment with 28.8 percent of the national total.

“We foresee an increase in total exports of 7.4 percent in 2026, from the 7.6 percent observed during 2025, where some entities in the north and Bajío of the Mexican Republic would maintain positive figures, mainly in the manufacturing sector,” stated the Banamex team.