Power electronics market set to grow

After two years of stagnancy, the power semiconductor devices market is set to prosper, according to research and consulting firm Yole Développement (Yole).

The power electronics market reached $11.5bn in 2014 (with 8.4% growth) and is expected to surpass $17bn by 2020, representing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.9% for the period 2014-2020.

Market growth will be driven by a significant increase in electric and hybrid vehicle (EV/HEV) sales, as well as the ramp-up of renewable energy and more smart-grid technology implementation, said Yole’s analyst.

Under its new power electronics report - Status of the Power Electronics Industry (Feb. 2015 edition) - Yole reviews the organisation of this industry taking into account the strategies of the main players and key drivers. The company’s analysts investigate the disruptive power electronics technologies including wide band gap (WBG) materials such as silicon carbide (SiC) and gallium nitride (GaN), MOSFETs and IGBTs devices and related applications such as wind turbines, transmission and distribution, EV/HEV, rail traction, uninterruptible power supplies and motor drives.

“Power modules, and more precisely IGBTs, will lead this growth. Modules are expected to reach a CAGR 2014-2020 of 10.3%, compared to 5.1% growth for discrete components,” explained Mattin Grao Txapartegi, technology and market analyst at Yole. This growth in the demand of IGBT modules is due to their improved overall performance in terms of efficiency and thermal conductivity management.

“The new wide band gap (WBG) device market will also drive growth,” said Dr Pierric Gueguen, business unit manager for power electronics and compound semiconductor activities, Yole. According to Yole’s report, a lot of industrial companies have been focusing on WBG technologies. Ready to be implemented in numerous applications, WBG solutions will represent around 5% of the overall market by 2020, even though in terms of units their presence will still be limited. Dr Gueguen and his team are working to identify and analyse the current bottlenecks to implement WBG technologies in the power electronics industry.

For more information about this report and other market analysis from Yole, go to www.i-micronews.com, Power Electronics reports section.