Power transistor market to see big jump in 2010

As the world goes more electric driven like the electrics cars, the demand for power semiconductor devices such as power transistors will rise proportionally. Market researcher IC Insights has forecasted the market for power transistor to rise by 31% to a record figure of $11 Billion in 2010 recovering from a drop of 16% in 2009. This said to be the best growth figures for power transistors since year 2001.

Power transistor sales are forecast to reach $14.5 billion in 2014 compared to $8.4 billion in 2009 representing a compound annual growth rate of nearly 12%. Power transistor unit shipments are expected to grow at a CAGR of 14% in the five-year forecast period to 71.3 billion compared to 37.1 billion in 2009, according to IC Insights' new Optoelectronics, Sensors, and Discretes (O-S-D) report-2010. Power transistor sales accounted for 55% of the $15.2 billion total discrete semiconductor market in 2009. In 2014, power transistors are forecast to represent 58% of the $25.1 billion discrete semiconductor market.

The key applications driving the power transistor market include battery-operated portable electronics, and green technologies such as hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), solar and wind-power systems.

Here are the some more highlights of its report:
Among the major power transistor categories, high-voltage power FETs (over 200V) are forecast to show the strongest growth during the 2009-2014 period, rising by a CAGR of 13.5% reaching $2.3 billion in 2014. IGBT modules are expected to be the second fastest growing power transistor category in the next five years with a CAGR of 12.7%, reaching $2.5 billion in 2014. Discrete insulated-gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs) are expected to add another $954 million to that total in 2014. IC Insights believes that low-voltage power FETs (field-effect transistors, serving applications under 200V) will remain the largest power transistor category with sales reaching $5.3 billion in 2014, a CAGR of nearly 12.1% in the five-year forecast period. Meanwhile, bipolar-junction power transistor sales are forecast to grow at a CAGR of 9% in the 2009-2014 period, reaching $1.2 billion in five years.

Some of the popular semiconductor vendors in this market include Infineon Technologies, International Rectifier, IXYS, Fairchild Semiconductor, Fuji Electric, Mitsubishi, Renesas, NXP, ON Semiconductor, Sanyo, ST Microelectronics, Toshiba, Toyota, and Vishay.

IC Insights' report also talks about non -silicon compound semiconductor materials, such as silicon-carbide (SiC), GaAs, GaN, InP, and InGP materials finding more use in power switching applications.