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lthough digital power is only a small portion of today's power electronics industry, its growth and development is expected to play a major role in the future of power conversion and power management. The market at both the semiconductor and power conversion levels is expected to remain extremely competitive, with large multinational corporations competing with smaller regional companies for market share. In addition, a growing number of partnerships, acquisitions and alliances among companies are expected to have a significant impact in the growth and development of this industry.
The Worldwide Digital IC market (which includes VR Loop Controllers, Non-VR Loop Controllers, PFC Loop Controllers, Converter Management ICs and System ICs) is expected to be $169 million in 2006, increasing to $796 million in 2011, a compound annual growth rate of 36.4%. In emerging markets such as digital power, leadership is fluid and, therefore, it is not appropriate to base it on who is currently shipping the largest dollar value of products.
Darnell Group employed a benchmarking survey to determine mindshare and to answer the question: "Who's in the lead in the digital power control market?" The benchmarking survey included questions designed to determine who are the leaders in the Digital Power IC Market, the Digital Power Converter Market and the overall Digital Power Market. The survey results allow for the determination of broad leaders within the market, as well as for certain criteria in the market, such as Price, Interoperability, Design Tools, Pure Digital Solution and Hybrid Analog/Digital Solution.
Respondents did not indicate a strong preference for either Pure Digital or Hybrid Analog/Digital solutions. This implies that the market does not necessarily have a strong preference for how a solution is implemented so long as it meets the right pricing points, has acceptable Design Tools and works well with other products.
Looking at the Digital IC results, Primarion, Volterra and Zilker Labs placed as the leader in one feature/function set, while Texas Instruments placed as the leader in two feature/function categories. These findings should indicate that these companies will emerge/continue as leaders in the digital power IC market. Primarion is the leader in the most highly ranked category, Price. Zilker Labs can also claim an advantage because it leads in the second highest ranked category, Design Tools. Volterra came in as "Best in Class" for Hybrid Analog/Digital Solution.
Looking at the Power Converter benchmarking results, the Best in Class digital power converter companies differentiated themselves from the rest of the pack by a greater amount than the leading digital IC companies. Four digital power converter companies stood out as the leaders—Astec Power, Artesyn Technologies, Delta Electronics and Power-One.
In terms of overall leadership, the largest companies stood out as the leaders. Delta Electronics, while not a leader in market share, claimed the lead in two categories—Quality and Support. Texas Instruments and Astec ranked as number one and two in mind share, while also holding a top four position in the Value, Quality and Support categories. These three companies, coupled with the other leaders of the IC and Power Converter segments, stand the greatest chance of gaining market share as the power electronics market moves towards digital solutions.
Graph 1
Average Relative Importance of Features/Functions
(1 least important to 5 most important)
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Linnea Brush
Senior Research Analyst
Darnell Group |  |
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