State of the art of power management ICs

Market Status of Power Management ICs

The sales of power management ICs shipped in China in 2009 will drop by 12.2% compared to 2008, from $4.2 billion to $3.7 billion. Sales in 2008 were up 3.5 percent from $3.5 billion in 2007. Sales will start to pick up in the second half of 2009, setting the stage for an 8.4% increase in 2010. Moreover, the compound annual growth rate of this market from 2008 to 2012 will be higher than the global semiconductor and global power management IC market. During the same period, the compound annual growth rate of China's power management IC market sales will reach 3.6%, while the overall semiconductor market is 0.7%.

Mainly from China's huge domestic market and the needs of local consumers. This is the result of the Chinese government stimulating domestic demand and domestic consumption. Specifically, growth in wireless and consumer electronics sales, the construction of 3G networks in China, and increased purchases by factory companies will drive the market growth over the next few years.

Linear regulators, DC-DC switching regulators, driver ICs and power management accounted for the majority of $4.2 billion in 2008 sales, with a combined sales of 24% billion, accounting for 58 .16%. iSuppli believes that these areas will account for a larger proportion of overall sales in the next few years.

Like China's overall semiconductor market, power management ICs are mainly used in data processing, wireless communications and consumer electronics applications. These applications accounted for $3.8 billion or 93% of overall power management IC sales. While power management ICs are used in all electronic devices, demand comes primarily from voltage regulators used in PCs, monitors, and mobile phones.

China's domestic market is growing, with foreign players dominating the country's power management market, with Texas Instruments, National Semiconductor and Fairchild leading the way in overall market share. Moreover, the top 10 manufacturers are all European and American companies. The second-tier players are mainly Japanese companies such as Toshiba, NEC, Sharp and Fujitsu, as well as Taiwanese companies such as Richtek, which have achieved success in the low-end market, especially in the consumer electronics market.

Leading suppliers tend to adopt the Integrated Device Manufacturer (IDM) model, but only three domestic power management IC manufacturers in China have adopted this model. Moreover, most suppliers in China are relatively short-lived and small in scale. Meanwhile, only ASMC, Belling and CSMC are dedicated analog foundries that can offer mature analog processes.