Power Management Semiconductors: A Preliminary Look

Transcription

1 Market Analysis Power Management Semiconductors: A Preliminary Look Abstract: As a key enabler of electronics, power management semiconductors remain fragmented. Benefit from a look into the preliminary 2001 market share and initial power management IC study. By Ada Cheng and Gerald Van Hoy Strategic Market Statements Preliminary results show that the market declined by 26.2 percent, which is still less than the overall semiconductor market. Generally, acquisitions and mergers helped individual companies grow more (or decline less) than the market. Publication Date: August 27, 2002

2 2 Power Management Semiconductors: A Preliminary Look Gartner Dataquest Perspective Power management has enabled countless products and features that people take for granted. For example, mobile equipment could not exist without power management. Consumers count on the convenience of remote controls, backup batteries and automatic shut-off/turn-on features. Businesses depend on reliable equipment (even when the power fails) to servicetheircustomers24hoursaday,sevendaysaweek,365daysayear. As power management gains more attention, the competition in the fragmented market of power management semiconductor increases. Some mergers and acquisitions have reduced the number of participating vendors. However, the slow market has made the remaining vendors extremely hungry for sales. Vendors may be tempted to lower prices to stimulate sales. Further price declines will lower the market's growth. Consequently, vendors are advised to avoid unnecessary price declines. Manufacturing has played a key role in making semiconductors, especially discretes, cost-effective; however, manufacturing can also become so dominant in the decision-making process that it makes a vendor inflexible. This is one of many reasons why major discrete companies have difficulty making the transition into an effective IC company. Not surprisingly, there are very few fabless power management semiconductor companies. Basically, the design process is closely tied to the manufacturing process technology through the use of design libraries and electronic design automation (EDA) tools. Companies need to make sure that design and manufacturing departments communicate and balance the needs of each. Designers should take advantage of intrinsic parasitics, rather than just minimizing their effects. This technique helps prevent competitors from making direct copies. EDA and library developers could take a stronger role to make the interaction between design and manufacturing easier. Otherwise, semiconductor vendors (particularly since engineers have become so specialized) have a major translation problem. Manufacturing process engineers have difficulty understanding the needs of design engineers because the correlation between manufacturing process variables and designvariablesisnoteasytounderstand. Gartner Dataquest Recommendations Consistent device categories have eluded the industry. As semiconductor vendors become more systems-oriented, vendors should start to converge on which devices are general-purpose and which are application-specific. For example, a motor driver is specific to a type of motor. However, that type of motor goes in various system applications. Similarly, cold cathode fluorescent lighting (CCFL) inverters are specific to fluorescent lights, but CCFL is used in consumer lighting applications, notebook computer display backlight applications and others. Battery management devices are specific to a battery chemistry, but batteries run in a wide variety of applications. Vendors that classify motor drivers, CCFL inverters and

3 3 battery management products as application-specific have missed the application system and focus only on the components of that system. Consequently, Gartner Dataquest encourages vendors to treat these as general-purpose devices. Vendor participation in the power management IC surveys is vital to keep the design metrics fresh. The metrics from the final results can help benchmark operational performance. The majority of power management ICs are analog or mixed-signal, and the Gartner Dataquest Market Trends report "Standard Analog/Mixed-Signal IC Market" (SCSI-WW-MT-0106) provides more metrics to compare against. The power management IC surveys for 2002 are out. The results should be interesting. Power Management Semiconductors The semiconductor industry has yet to follow a standard definition for the term "power management." The term has been used in so many different contexts that it is difficult to tell if people even agree on what power management entails. To electronic system designers, power management is a function. To electronic component designers for electronic systems, power management is an application. To the financial community, power management is an enabling technology. To prevent possible misconceptions, Gartner Dataquest developed the following definition: Power management controls how both current and voltage are delivered within a system over time. Good power management must deliver enough power for the system to be functional and costeffective. The system may not necessarily be efficient, but any additional efficiencies may win business from the end user. The amount and degree of control vary greatly among applications. In systems in which power is not of the utmost concern, less control is required. Many of these systems focus on routing power to all the components rather than on control. In other systems, in which power is a primary concern, more control is required. Successful control in such cases usually requires some electrical feedback on performance. For more information on power management, see the Gartner Dataquest Perspective "Power Management: Unplugged" (SEMC-WW-DP-0058). Methodology and Assumptions Preliminary market share estimates presented here are from the process used in preparing the Gartner Dataquest Market Statistics report "Final 2001 Worldwide Semiconductor Market Share" (SCSI-WW-MS-0130). In addition to the market share process, several interviews and a separate survey were conducted in 2001 for power management ICs. Gartner Dataquest estimates are generally conservative, based on multiple sources of input including marketing collateral, financial reports and teardowns of electronic systems.

4 4 Power Management Semiconductors: A Preliminary Look Power Management Semiconductors: Preliminary Market Share Power management semiconductors declined about 26.2 percent in 2001, compared with 31.8 percent for the total semiconductor market. The market is still very fragmented, as demonstrated by the relatively small market share percentages of the top 20 vendors out of more than 50 vendors (see Table 1). Several of the vendors performed better than their counterparts because of acquisitions, especially in power discretes. Generally, companies with more European exposure tended to do better than the overall market from a regional perspective. From an applications perspective, companies with more automotive exposure tended to do better, while companies with more communications and PC exposure tended to do worse. Table 1 Top 20 Companies' Preliminary Vendor Revenue From Shipments of Power Management Semiconductors to the World (Millions of Dollars) 2000 Rank 2001 Rank Vendor 2000 Revenue 2001 Revenue Change (%) 2001 Market Share (%) 2 1 STMicroelectronics 1, Fairchild Semiconductor Toshiba 1, International Rectifier Texas Instruments Vishay ON Semiconductor Mitsubishi Hitachi Infineon Technologies Linear Technology Sanken National Semiconductor Fujitsu Motorola Fuji Electric Maxim Philips Semiconductor Sanyo Matsushita Others 3,298 2, Total 16,796 12, Source: Gartner Dataquest (August 2002) Power discretes compose more than 65 percent of power management semiconductor revenue vs. power management ICs (see Figure 1). Power discretes include power bipolar transistors, power MOSFET transistors, insulated-gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs), power diodes and thyristors. For definitions of these device types, see "Semiconductor Industry Definitions, 2002" (SEMC-WW-GU-0004). For more information about power management ICs, see "Power Management IC Landscape" (SEMC- WW-DP-0091). Most power management ICs are analog in nature.

5 5 Figure 1 Preliminary 2001 Power Management Semiconductor Market Share by Major Product Category Power Management ICs (34.9%) Power Discretes (65.1%) Total Preliminary Revenue = $12.4 Billion Source: Gartner Dataquest (August 2002) Power Management IC Designs A new design may result in several different part numbers for various temperature ranges, voltage options and package types. Some companies may refer to a new design as a product family or platform. Based on preliminary results, the number of completed designs in 2001 declined almost 10 percent from Becauseoftheneedforhigherefficienciesatlowervoltages,thenumberof completed switching voltage regulator designs far exceeded any other product subcategory (see Figure 2). Generally, a design is considered complete when it is released into manufacturing production.

6 6 Power Management Semiconductors: A Preliminary Look Figure 2 Preliminary 2001 Power Management IC Designs by Product Subcategory Other Power Management (11.9%) Custom (1.5%) Switched Capacitor Charge Pumps (3.0%) Voltage References (3.3%) Hot Swap/Plug Products (5.1%) Battery Charging/ Measurement (5.2%) Power Management Units (aka PMUs) (5.8%) AC Voltage Products (9.3%) Switching Voltage Regulators (24.9%) Linear Regulators (17.2%) Voltage Supervisor/Monitors (12.8%) Source: Gartner Dataquest (August 2002) EDA and design library vendors still have tremendous opportunities to help users get to first-pass success. Power management IC vendors continue to create engineering lots to fine-tune their circuits, particularly for thermal regulation. This practice is sometimes known as silicon breadboarding. During 2001, the average number of design re-spins was 1.6 mask set revisions (regardless of the number of masks that changed). Power management IC design times have gradually shortened over the years. During 2001, the average design project was about 11.2 months long. In addition, the market window for some electronic systems is getting shorter. Many power management IC companies have therefore identified time-to-market issues as the most critical to success. Historically, vendors reviewed the percentage of revenue based on new designs introduced within the last three years to determine how strong their operations were. Now, companies look at the percentage of revenue based on new designs introduced within the last 18 months. This metric lends itself well to companies whose revenue is dominated by applicationspecific standard products (ASSPs), but the longer ramp times of generalpurpose standard analog ICs may not compare well. Vendors that understand the end applications are better able to demonstrate a system-oriented solution. In fact, power management IC companies identified the capability to provide cost-effective system solutions as the next-most-critical issue to success.

7 7 Key Issue How large is the semiconductor market by segment, product, vendor or region?

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