Power chips set for strong recovery

Power chips are set to make a recovery after suffering a 14 percent drop this year, and are expected to grow by 10 percent from 2010.

Analyst firm IMS Research claims that the world market for power management and driver integrated circuits (ICs) will recover strongly in 2010.

Power over Ethernet (PoE) ICs, integrated power stages, including non-standard and Intel-standard driver metal oxide semiconductors, and power factor correction (PFC) ICs will do particularly well, said IMS Research.

The report added that 2009 has been a tough year for many semiconductor manufacturers, particularly during the first half.

However, the power IC market managed to do a little better than some other parts of the chip market, and PoE and PFC controllers are even forecast to grow in 2009.

The increasing demand for equipment that is more energy efficient will require complex, and therefore more expensive, power management, according to the research. Thus power management chips are expected to find their way into flat-panel TVs and netbooks.

The market for power ICs in merchant power supplies will also recover in 2010, and grow strongly with demand from new applications such as LED lighting, IMS Research said.

The big winner is likely to be Texas Instruments, which is the largest supplier of power management and driver ICs.