Power electronics market surges

Electric vehicles help drive growth.

The power electronics market is recovering after several tough years and will continue to expand, according to analysts at Yole Developpement. It will surpass $18.7 billion or 17 billion Euro by 2020, largely fueled by electric and hybrid vehicles.

IGBT power modules will lead this growth and reach 10.3 percent CAGR through 2020, compared to 5.1 percent for discrete components.

"New technologies have appeared in the last decade, such as superjunction MOSFETs, which have brought the MOSFET family into higher voltage segments up to 900V, with better performance. In terms of power packaging, ongoing evolution is driven particularly by the EV/HEV industry," the Yole Developpement report said.

Power electronics must follow the broad industry trend to become more compact, the report said. There is more space-saving pressure in EVs, for example, that drive lower-density components with voltage range of 600 to 1,200V. EVs need lower than 10kW onboard chargers and DC-DC converters as well, said Pierric Gueguen, business unit manager of Yole Developpement power electronics.

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