Vehicle hybridisation is pulling the power electronics market

2015 is also related to the Chinese power electronics industry and its increasing role within the overall power electronics industry, the merge between Infineon Technologies and International Rectifier as well as an important technology evolution focused on power density increase. All these facts contribute to widely modify the power electronics landscape: Yole’s analysts are expecting lot of changes.

Under the new power electronics report 'Status of the power electronics industry 2016', Yole proposes an overview of the power electronics industry evolution: the company reviews the market segmentation including technology trends, market figures and drivers. It also points out the applications that are strongly impacted the development of power electronics technologies. The analysts present the top 25 power electronics players in 2015 and its evolution compared to the previous year. This technology and market analysis highlights the major trends and developments in the power electronics market and expectations for the future. In 2015, the power electronics market have been contracted while most indicators were pointing out on the direction of the 2014 recovery. Indeed, 2015 has been a difficult year with the global value of power ICs , power modules and discrete components decreasing from $15.7bn to $15.2bn. This 3% decrease is mainly explained by the strong ASP decrease at IGBT module level. “We expect this ASP trend to continue, mainly because of price pressure from the automotive market”, explains Coralie Le Bret, Technology & Market Analyst at Yole. “But overall IGBT module and global power electronics market value should increase, as volume growth outweighs this ASP fall.”

Indeed the automotive market will strengthen its position, as Yole is expecting EV/HEV market segment to represent a major part of the IGBT module market by 2021. Over this time the power MOSFET market is expected to grow slightly for all applications, going from $1bn to $1.2bn value.

In the 'Status of Power Electronics Industry 2016' report Yole’s analysts forecast the power electronics market’s evolution, with two different scenarios depending for instance on the future of electrified vehicles. Thus many applications within the power electronics industry is depending on political decisions. These applications include renewable energies and electrified vehicles for instance. It is complex to estimate the evolution of the market: according to Yole’s nominal scenario, the power electronics market will reach $27bn by 2030; with a more pessimistic approach, such figure will be totally different.

From the technology side, the evolution is mainly driven by EV/HEV sector, as it is considered as the main power electronics market for the future. The power density increase is the main focus; it induces thermal management challenges that need to be overcome thanks to power packaging evolution. Overmolded modules and double side cooling seem to be the future mainstream, especially for mid-power applications demanding low price. Module design may evolve, removing layers of the package in order to optimise thermal management. Another trend identified by Yole’s analysts is the one focused on WBG technologies. According to Yole, the adoption of WBG solutions will be generalised: most of players are already offering devices off-the-shelf and are involved in different R&D projects. “WBG devices are used in some applications thanks to the high energy density they offer and their efficiency”, asserts Coralie Le Bret from Yole. “In the future we expect multi-sourcing and price decrease to favor the WBG materials penetration. Packaging will have to be developed in accordance with the device in order to take the best of it”.