IGBT application growth will drive the market to USD6bn by 2018 forecasts Yole
After a few hiccups in 2011 and 2012, Yole Développement expects a return to steady growth for the IGBT market; specifically, from $3.6bn today to $6bn by 2018.
Six key applications, which are extensively analyzed in Yole’s IGBT Markets and Application Trend report, will fuel this growth.
The forecast is based on the latest Q1/2013 results and Yole’s understanding of technology adoption.
In addition to the six key applications, every secondary application is analyzed in this report as well, and there are important trends not to be missed: the so-called ‘inverterization’ trend is one of them. Home appliances increasingly require inverter-based motor drives, which provide better performance, comfort and efficiency: all ‘musts’ for high-end products.
Consumers are also using more advanced home solutions, like induction-based plates for rice cookers. The new applications will contribute to IGBT’s growth in consumer applications.
In 2012 there was a crisis in the power devices markets, IGBTs in particular. This is explained by multiple factors:
– The slow-down of PV installations due to the reduction of feed-in-tariffs in Europe
– The slow-down of wind turbine installations in China
– The train accident in China that halted the high-speed train production line
– The fact that global economic recovery has been much slower than expected (thus affecting the consumer markets).
Yole believes that the 2011 earthquake in Japan caused system makers to secure their orders.
All these factors combine to explain 2011’s overproduction, which was paid for in 2012 and early 2013.
Accoring to Yole the IGBT market also faces competition from external, market-impacting trends. By following the component trends surrounding IGBT. I
The IGBT drivers’ area has never been so active: there are a bunch of start-up companies proposing solutions offering more design flexibility and/or higher performance. Other companies are structuring offers at power stack level, and we’ve seen a lot of work put into power module packaging solutions.
“IGBT is no longer the only high-end device solution. SiC devices are ready, and GaN devices are at sample stage. Adoption roadmaps are clearer now. We’ve seen the first full SiC PV inverters based on MOSFETs or JFETs; we see it more as a displacement. IGBT is slowly moving to medium and-low end solutions, allowing SiC to handle higher voltages, and GaN to capitalize on lower voltages,” explained Alexandre Avron, Technology & Market Analyst, Power Electronics at Yole Développement.
Visit Yole Développement at www.yole.fr
If you enjoyed this article, you will like the following ones: don't miss them by subscribing to :
