LED Lighting to Drive $10bn Power Supply Market in 2016

IMS Research’s recent report “Opportunities for Power Components in LED Lighting”, revealed that rapid uptake of LED lighting, driven by legislation and rising costs of electricity, will result in a potential market of 4 billion power supply units by 2016, worth an astounding $10 billion. Report co-author and senior market analyst, Ryan Sanderson, commented “Demand for LED lighting solutions is increasing rapidly for all applications from low-power residential retrofit LED lamps and bulbs to high-power commercial and industrial LED luminaires for applications such as street lighting.”

The report also found that the traditional lamp and luminaire market is well established. Manufacturers are faced with new challenges when it comes to powering LED lamps and luminaires and often require significant power electronics expertise, opening up opportunities for power supply manufacturers. The requirements to power new LED lighting products varies widely, depending on design factors including power rating, the number of LEDs or LED strings and the environment in which the solution will be placed. Sanderson added, ”These design requirements, coupled with the lack of clear standards for LED lighting means that LED lamp and luminaire manufacturers need considerable power electronics expertise, either via employing specialists or from a merchant power supply manufacturer.”

The market report found that LED lighting would become a unique opportunity, despite the fact that general lighting has always been a relatively small and low-growth market for the power supply industry. Competition in lighting, however, is already fierce and some of the largest manufacturers of LED lamps and luminaires are positioning themselves to cope with these challenges internally. Report co-author and market analyst, Jonathon Eykyn, commented “Some of the largest manufacturers of LED lamps and luminaires already have the capability to design and manufacture power circuitry in-house, either via subsidiaries or through the acquisition of power supply manufacturers. Philips Advance is a prime example”. This means that a portion of the total power supply opportunity is absorbed by these vertically integrated companies and becomes “captive”. Eykyn added, “Designing and manufacturing the power solution in-house, however, only really makes sense in high-volume, low-cost markets and where the design is simple; for example, LED retrofit lamps. In medium and high-power applications, design becomes more complex and it often makes more financial sense to outsource the power supply design to a merchant vendor.” As a result, the report from IMS Research forecasts that more than 50% of the market in 2016 will be controlled merchant power supply manufacturers.