A new report from IMS Research forecasts considerable growth in power semiconductors for LED lighting applications, predicting the global market will reach more than $3 billion by 2016. The trend is driven by demand for more efficient lighting and legislation against incandescent lamps, according to IMS’ Opportunities for Power Components in LED Lighting report, released earlier this month.
The anticipated growth signals big opportunities for manufacturers and distributors of power semiconductors.
IMS identifies retrofit LED lamps as the greatest opportunity, driving more than $2 billion worth of power semiconductors in 2016. What’s more, the expanding range of available lamps with varying design, requirements and specifications is driving new opportunities as well.
“The complex electronics involved in LED lighting adds a new challenge for traditional manufacturers of lighting solutions. Most designs require knowledge of power electronics, something which many suppliers don’t currently have in in-house,” says report co-author Ryan Sanderson, senior market analyst with IMS.
The LED market is expected to drive more than $1.5 billion worth of AC-DC and DC-DC controllers and low-power MOSFETs (used in solutions involving a controller with an external FET) in2016, as well.
LED luminaires represent a big opportunity for power semiconductor suppliers as well—particularly high-power LED luminaires over 60 watts used for street and industrial lighting applications. Collectively, those applications should drive a power discrete market of more than $1 billion, according to the report.
The new technology and ongoing innovation in LEDs is driving the need for expertise among product designers—a trend that is very likely here to stay, adds report co-author and market analyst Jonathon Eykyn.
“Although some of the largest LED lighting manufacturers have the capability to design and manufacture power circuitry in-house, they still need the knowledge and expertise of the power semiconductor industry and this is something that is unlikely to change,” Eykyn says. “The opportunity is likely to increase further as manufacturers begin to add higher levels of intelligence to their LED lighting products, offering additional functionality to the consumer and increasing energy efficiency.”
