Here are some facts about California:

Recently the World economic Forum awarded its Technology Pioneers awards for 2013 in energy and environment category to eleven worldwide companies that included four US-based companies. They were Coulomb Technologies of Campbell, EnPhase Energy of Petaluma; Liquid Robotics of Sunnyvale, and Transphorm of Goleta, - all based in California.

At PSMA's (Power Sources Manufacturer's Association) Power Technology Roadmap three companies gave presentations on the GaN (Gallium Nitride) devices, considered the future of the power devices. They were Efficient Power Conversion (EPC) and International Rectifier (IR), both based in El Segundo, near Los Angeles, CA and Transphorm. In addition, Qualcomm, based in San Diego, California gave a presentation on the wireless power, another futuristic topic in power electronics. Alliance for Wireless Power, a consortium of companies interested in creating standards and providing direction for the emerging wireless power is based in Fremont, CA.

Some of the largest OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) who use power supplies and power semiconductors extensively are based in California. These include Apple Computers, Cisco Systems and HP to name a few, but there are hundreds of them. Of course there are other companies that are large users of power supplies, like IBM in New York and Dell Computers in Texas. California does not hold any monopoly in this area but for the overall power supply market California remains the largest. Some of dominant software-related companies who are also involved in servers and data centers are based in California. Think about companies like Google, Facebook and Twitter.

In order to follow their customers, many power supply manufacturers have established their major administrative operations in California. For example, Emerson Electric, which is headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri, located its embedded power systems in Carlsbad, CA. Others include Delta Electronics is based in Fremont, California, Lambda Electronics, a onetime largest East Coast company, has moved to California and TDK-Lambda is based in San Diego, California.

While significant part of established embedded power users and manufacturers has found their place in California, it is the future of power electronics that provides the allure of the place. The future energy market challenges and opportunities are all coming from California:

• Solar Market: California remains the largest market in the United States. Power-One, based in Camarillo, California, is the second largest inverter manufacturer in the world and is focusing its future growth in the US by targeting California market. SMA Solar Technology AG, the Germany-based largest solar inverter manufacturer has located its US operation, SMA America, LLC in Rocklin, CA.

• Hybrid/EV Automobiles: California is the largest market for electric/hybrid cars. Toyota sells more Priuses in California than any other state. Tesla Motors, the electric car company is based in Palo Alto, CA and makes its products in Fremont, CA, in the old one time abandoned GM/Toyota facility.

• Net-Zero Energy Buildings: The future of energy usage in buildings known as The Net-Zero-Energy Building initiative is a California initiative. This initiative calls states by 2020, there will be no waste/emission from residential buildings and by 2030 there will be no waste/emission from the commercial buildings. New power/energy technology will need to be developed and deployed to meet these new initiatives. This will result in a new paradigm in building construction due to California's initiative.

• Smart Grid: Many of the Smart Grid research, initiatives and ideas have come from the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), which is very active in this field. EPRI has many offices and research centers around the world and one of them is based in Palo Alto, CA.  

There are many surveys that state California is a dysfunctional state with sky high housing prices, marred by an overburdened regulatory climate, and high taxes. As conventional thinking goes, California is not a good place to either start or expand the business. Though most of this is true as related to the general business climate, it may not apply for the electronics and the power/energy business. In this area California's pros outweigh its cons.

Recently Delta Electronics, based in Fremont, California, decided to expand its offices due to business growth. For its expansion, Delta Electronics did not leave California seeking a new venue, because there are good reasons to be in the Silicon Valley. California provides significant market opportunities not only from its current customers but also from the future and emerging ones. It broke new ground in a nearby location in Fremont with the blessing from the Fremont city administration. For the power electronics industry there is no place like my home state - California.

Provided by Mohan Mankikar, President, Micro-Tech Consultants

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