Letter from the editor: Power Industry Overview
By Margery Conner, Technical Editor, Power Systems and Components, EDN -- EDN, September 18, 2008
EDN’s Power issue last May, “Best of Power,” focused on EDN’s most popular power content for 2007 based on visits by EDN.com viewers. This issue, “Power Leaders,” takes a look at the leading power semiconductor vendors for power transistors, power management ICs, photovoltaics, and digital power. And in a nod to a future market segment, we take a look at an emerging technology in the automotive world: The plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV), also called the extended-range EV. Where revenues are established and trackable, we list which companies are the top 10 or 20 for each segment based on revenues; in emerging markets, we list companies which are likely contenders.
Power electronics were strong in 2007 and will continue so for at least the near future because of the global need to increase energy efficiency in the face of rising energy costs. Power supplies for electronics used to be a necessary evil – now they can be a differentiating feature as vendors look for ways to squeeze more capabilities out of less power, and end-customers weigh paying a little more up-front to save more on their overall energy costs.
As an example of the relative strength of the power market, Gartner – Dataquest predicts that the voltage regulator segment of the semiconductor market will have a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.2% from 2006-2008, which is slightly faster than that of the overall analog IC segment, which Gartner forecasts will grow at a CAGR of 6.4%, and much faster than that of the total semiconductor segment, which it expects will grow at a CAGR of 4.8% over the same period.
Read Margery Conner’s PowerSource blog at www.edn.com/powersource.
