Digital Power Although the digital market has existed for many years in some form, growth is accelerating as adoption increases across many different applications and sectors. It is forecast that the market for digital power components (digital power supplies and digital power ICs) will quadruple to $15 billion in the next five years. The market for digital power supplies is projected to account for $12.5 billion of this in 2017 with the digital power IC market accounting for the other $2.5 billion.

LED Lighting Although the use of LEDs for general lighting is not currently widespread, it is predicted that we are at the start of a rapid uptake of LED lighting. This splits into two major opportunities, LED retrofit lamps and LED luminaries. The LED lamp opportunity is being targeted by power semiconductor suppliers as well as power supply manufacturers who have traditionally targeted commodity markets such as cell phone adapters. The LED luminaries’ opportunity allows them to add value to their products due to increased complexity.

Whilst adoption is currently driven largely by legislation, it is forecast to accelerate as consumers become more aware of the long term savings that are attainable when compared with competing lighting technologies. Lighting manufacturers are faced with new challenges when it comes to powering LED lamps and luminaries and often require significant power electronics expertise, opening up opportunities for power supply and power IC manufacturers. It is this opportunity that is predicted to drive the market to $10 billion in 2016.

Power Adapters The power adapter market is fast approaching one of its largest ever changes. The cell phone charger market, the largest segment of the total market, is forecast decline from 2014. Although handset shipments continue to increase, in part due to the shift to smart phones, implementation of the wired universal charging solution is forecast to dramatically reduce growth in the charger market. This is a drive by the GSMA and cell phone manufacturers to reduce the electronic manufacturing waste and end-user waste of redundant and duplicate chargers by having just a single charging solution. It is predicted that purchasers of mobile phones will soon be given the option to ‘opt out’ of receiving a charger with their phone. It is assumed that by 2014, most people will have a universal charger; the buyer of the mobile phone will then have the option to ‘opt in’ to receive a new charger if required, driving the decline from 2014 onwards.

Wireless Power The wireless power/charging market is still embryonic as adoption remains low. However, there are signs this is charging as manufacturers and suppliers begin to adopt the technology. One of Nokia’s latest smart phones contains the technology and recent reports suggest Samsung’s next major smart phone will also allow consumers to charge wirelessly. In addition, Toyota is planning to add wireless charging as an option into one of its vehicles in 2013 and Starbucks has been trialing wireless charging pads in its shops. It is predicted that additional suppliers and companies will begin to embrace the technology in 2013 and beyond and growth is projected to take off very quickly once this happens.

Semiconductors in Power Supplies The power semiconductor market continues to grow slowly due to weak demand in many markets. However, the world market for semiconductors used in power supplies is forecast to grow at a fairly healthy 6.5 percent in 2013. The strongest growth is predicted for MPU/MCU/DSP/DSC products at 35 percent in 2013. Although this is currently one of the smallest markets for semiconductors used in power supplies, it is projected to grow by $45 million from 2012 to 2016 owing to adoption of digital power and advanced power factor correction (PFC) techniques.

Other growth drivers include the increase in demand for power supplies which use synchronous rectification at the output, a trend projected to account for a large part of the $80 million growth forecast for the power MOSFET market from 2012 to 2017. In addition, the combined market for ac-dc switching regulators (integrated FET) and switching controllers (external FET) is predicted to grow by $270 million in the next five years. This is driven in part by demand for more intelligent solutions in cell phone chargers to cope with requirements for “no-load power consumption” and strong demand from applications such as tablets and LED lighting.

Provided by Jonathon Eykyn, Research Analyst, Power Management & Conversion, IMS Research (an IHS company)

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