Power management takes the lead in industry recovery

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Power management takes the lead in industry recovery [Copy link]

Power management devices were not spared from the huge decline of the overall electronics industry in 2001, but unlike other electronic devices, power management devices did not completely lose the sales revenue and profits they gained in 2000. Now, the power management industry is getting out of the trough, and although the growth rate is not high, the trend is already obvious.

Power management is a subset of power semiconductors related to power nonlinear applications. Of the three main applications of power devices: power, control and amplification, power management is only related to the power and control (i.e. switching) functions. RF devices, audio, video and other power signal amplifiers do not meet this definition and therefore do not belong to the power management category. Power management is also an important part of the "multi-market" semiconductor devices. The so-called "multi-market" devices refer to industrial standard devices used in various applications. Power management devices account for half of the sales revenue of "multi-market" devices and play a decisive role in the growth of the "multi-market". It is also worth mentioning that the sales revenue of power management devices accounts for 8% of the total semiconductor market.

The reason for the diversity of the power management market is the lack of a dominant supplier. Among the total 80 suppliers, the sales revenue of the top 5 suppliers accounted for 1/3 of the total market, and STMicroelectronics alone accounted for 9% of the total market. We noticed that the high-end market is often dominated by suppliers with a wide product line, who can provide a full range of IC and discrete power component products. Texas Instruments is an exception. The company does not provide any discrete devices but occupies the second place. Considering that discrete devices account for 2/3 of the total market, it is very difficult for TI to obtain such a high market share, which also shows TI's strong strength in power ICs.

From the perspective of device composition, power management devices can be divided into two categories: analog power ICs and discrete power devices. Although sales revenue of analog power ICs accounted for 18% of the analog IC market in 2001, it is a strong growth segment in analog ICs. In contrast, power management discrete products are the main body of the entire discrete device market, accounting for 55% of discrete device revenue in 2001. Among them, power control devices (i.e. non-RF power transistors and thyristors) accounted for 38% of discrete device operating revenue, and rectifier diodes accounted for another 17%. Power transistors and thyristors are discrete power control components that can be used to control power in power supply applications and power drive applications.

In 2002, the equipment market will not give a strong impetus to the power management IC market. However, the smooth flow of sales channels and the increasingly complex power requirements of the electronics market will make the power management device market grow faster than the entire device market. It will achieve a single-digit growth throughout 2002 and a double-digit growth thereafter. Below we predict the development trend of the power management industry by product classification.

Analog Power IC

Analog power ICs are analog ICs that provide either power supply/monitoring functions or power drive functions. We divide the analog IC market into a series of product groups that include power devices. Power management ICs are classified in the power IC category, with voltage regulators as its main product group, and other product sections also include power ICs. The interface IC group includes peripheral components, MOSFETs, motors, and display drivers. The automotive-specific group includes a series of dedicated power switches and motor driver ICs.

Voltage regulators have moved to center stage over the past few years for a variety of reasons, but the main driving forces are two: portable consumer electronics, communications and data processing electronics, and the advent of high-power low-voltage CPUs and their daunting power requirements. These two demanding electronics markets have spawned a new generation of voltage regulator devices.

Voltage regulators are a family of ICs that deliver power to electronic devices at well-controlled voltage levels over a wide range of input voltages and loads. Whether analog or digital, simple or complex, voltage regulators are embroiled in market growth by providing this essential function to electronic products. This is one reason why the voltage regulator subcategory of linear ICs saw revenue growth of 62% in 2000 and a 20-year CAGR of 20%. There is no reason for these devices to experience long-term demand weakness, as these low-cost power devices are inherently not conducive to integration. The idea of integrating them into a system-on-chip is neither wise nor cost-effective. We expect the voltage regulator market to return to a 15% CAGR over the next five years.

In addition to the voltage regulator IC segment, power management ICs have also spread to many other segments of the analog IC category. The interface IC category has a group of power devices under the peripheral driver subcategory. Products in this group include high-side and low-side drivers, H-bridges, motor drivers, MOSFET drivers, and other peripheral drivers. Power drivers for high-current and high-voltage displays are also included in the interface category. In addition to the standard regulator and linear categories of interface ICs, power management ICs are also used in automotive, consumer ICs, and industrial specialty ICs.

Interface and other power driver ICs are essentially power drivers and switches with logic. These devices interface digital data to the physical world of transmission lines, computer peripherals, and other non-semiconductor electronics in the electromagnetic, electromechanical, and optoelectronic domains. An interface IC simply converts digital inputs into drive outputs.

After a 47% increase in 2000, revenues for the combined “interface/other” category of power ICs fell 12% in 2001. This decline was relatively small due to the delayed effects of the industrial market downturn and continued strength in the automotive market. Although the automotive market is expected to have zero growth in 2002, the industrial sector continued to decline in the first half of 2002. The combined effect of these two factors will result in a non-growth market with a revenue increase of 0.2%.

Discrete Power Devices

Discrete devices are the largest segment of power management semiconductors. The term discrete device refers to semiconductor devices whose electrical functions are packaged separately. In fact, a discrete device package can contain multiple discrete devices. Unlike ICs, these devices must be combined with other devices to provide basic electrical functions such as amplification, switching or locking. We divide the discrete power management device market into three main categories: power transistors, rectifier diodes and thyristors.

As power and power control applications have grown exponentially, the share of power transistors in the discrete device market has continued to grow over the past 10 years. It is worth mentioning that the growth in rectifier revenues reflects the growth of the equipment market to some extent, as power equipment needs to use these simple power PN junctions to convert AC to DC. Although power transistor shipments have grown much faster than rectifiers, the average price of power transistors has also fallen faster than that of rectifiers, making their corresponding growth rates closer to expected results.

Discrete power device sales fell 24% in 2001, as bipolar power transistor sales fell 32%. The decline in average prices for all discrete power devices also masked the good news that shipment growth in the fourth quarter of 2001 narrowed the decline in sales to 5%.

Power transistor sales revenue fell 22% in 2001, and the market is expected to resume growth in 2002 (annual sales revenue growth reached 7.7%, and the five-year compound annual growth rate reached 10.5%). Sales prices continued to decline slowly in early 2002, but stabilized for power MOSFET devices. This price stabilization will help return to stronger sales revenue growth next year.

There are three types of devices in the power transistor segment of power management: MOSFET, IGBT and bipolar power transistor. Discrete power MOSFETs accounted for nearly a quarter of power transistor sales revenue in 2001, IGBTs accounted for nearly half, and bipolar devices accounted for the other quarter. Power MOSFETs are a key component in switching power supplies, motor control and other switching applications. With the growth of power ICs, this key switching component has shown growth in sales revenue and shipments. Like voltage regulators, the use of power MOSFETs does not grow linearly with the growth of the PC market. The growth in power demand in the PC field can make power MOSFETs grow geometrically, which is exactly what Intel's P4 microprocessor has shown in the past few months. As power applications continue to drive demand growth, power MOSFETs are expected to emerge from the recession with a compound annual growth rate of 16%.

On the other hand, because MOSFET is a more ideal power management device, bipolar power transistors (including power Darlington devices) are losing market share in power management. Power MOSFET can be used in the linear mode of amplifiers and in the pre-stage of audio amplifiers, but it is more often used as a power switch in power supply and power drive applications. It is precisely because MOSFET has excellent switching performance that the decline in their average selling price has restricted the market growth of bipolar devices.

The hybrid performance of IGBTs (MOSFET input, bipolar output) has created a strong new market for these devices, which are particularly suitable for motor control applications. The compound annual growth forecast for these power control devices is 12%, indicating that this product is still in the growth stage of its life cycle. For this reason, IGBT device shipments did not decline in 2002, although some product prices were too low, resulting in a 6% decline in sales revenue.

Thyristors are a complementary family of power transistors, including SCRs and triacs. These older, low-performance AC and DC switching components are typically used in consumer electrical products such as dimmers and low-end speed-controlled power tools, accounting for less than 5% of the power management market and have limited growth potential.

Conclusion

Power management devices have come out of this unprecedented severe depression. The worst phase is over and the market has definitely risen. Power supply and power control technology will become more complex and more widely used. These devices have grown rapidly in early 2002 and will continue to grow in 2002 and 2003. Especially with the improvement of automation, computing power and mobility of electronic products, power management devices will occupy an increasingly large share of semiconductor products in electronic equipment.

As market demand builds, supply shortages will occur in several areas in the third quarter of this year. Two products of concern are high-voltage MOSFETs and MOSFET packaging. The reason for the shortage of high-voltage MOSFETs may be that fewer suppliers are interested in this older field.

The decline in sales revenue over the past year, along with the decline in average selling prices and profits, may have hit power management product sources, product coverage and product supply. Because the areas pursued by manufacturers have changed, a series of acquisitions and mergers have occurred in the past two quarters, but the resumption of sales revenue growth will stabilize the power management market after 2002.