Power transistor sales are set to grow 6% this year and set a new record high of $14 billion, according to a new report from semiconductor market researcher IC Insights. This follows a strong recovery in 2014 that came after two years of declines, according to IC Insights’ 2015 O-S-D Report—A Market Analysis and Forecast for Optoelectronics, Sensors/Acutators, and Discretes.
“In the last six years, power transistor sales have swung wildly, overshooting and undershooting end-use demand as equipment makers struggled to balance inventories in the midst of economic uncertainty since the 2008-2009 recession,” according to the report authors. The 2014 recovery saw sales grow 14%, and now the researchers predict that the market is “finally stabilizing and returning to more normal growth patterns in the 2014-2019 forecast period.”
IC Insights expects power transistor sales to grow by a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.3% between 2014 and 2019, driven by steady increases in automotive, consumer electronics, portable systems, industrial, and wireless communication markets. Worldwide sales grew by a CAGR of 6.2% between 1994 and 2014.
Power transistors have been the growth engine of the discrete semiconductor market for 30 years, according to IC Insights. The technology is used to control, convert, and condition currents and voltages in a wide range of electronics, including battery-operated portable products, new energy-saving equipment, hybrid and electric vehicles, “smart” electric-grid applications, and renewable power systems