Driven by traditional applications including the three C’s – Communications, Computers and Consumer – as well as several emerging ones, the outlook for the embedded power supply market is expected to remain strong. Projected to grow from $1.7 billon in 2011 to over $2.2 billion in 2016, a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.6%, the ac-dc power supply market is not only growing, but undergoing a significant shift in demand characteristics which is expected to result in new product designs and sales opportunities.
The Smart Grid segment is a new addition to this report and is expected to make an immediate impact, as it is projected to be the fastest-growing segment over the forecast period. Made up of three applications, smart meters, electric vehicle chargers and smart appliances, the smart grid segment is expected to be one of the more promising longer-term areas of opportunity. However, an important fact that manufacturers need to be aware of is that the power supplies currently used in smart grid applications are primarily captive areas of production.
Although projected growth in the smart grid segment is expected to be primarily captive, it does not necessarily mean that there will be not be opportunities for power supply manufacturers. As the smart grid matures and expands, new regulations and standards will be adopted, technologies will change, new products will be announced and, according to a number of smart grid insiders, that is when the opportunities for merchant power supplies will develop, as it will become too complicated and expensive to manufacture a custom power supply for each new application. Although this is not expected to happen over the five-year forecast period in this report, it is expected to be a long-term opportunity.
Solid-State Lighting (SSL) is one of the newer categories presented and it is expected to be one of the beneficiaries of the growing smart grid market. This can already be seen in a number of areas in the US and abroad. In fact, with over $4.5 billion in federal grants directed towards funding project development and investment, light-emitting diode (LED) streetlights and smart grid technology have been combined and implemented in a growing number of California cities. Introduced in the last edition, SSL is expected to provide one of the better opportunities for the embedded power supply market.
Solid-state lighting specifically refers to the type of lighting that utilizes LEDs, organic light-emitting diodes (OLED), or polymer light-emitting diodes (PLEDs) as sources of illumination rather than electrical filaments, plasma or gas. LEDs are already in the market and are accepted as a reliable technology. By 2020, LED lighting is anticipated to saturate nearly half of the US commercial, industrial and outdoor lamps market. In light of this fact, the emergence of ac-dc power supplies for LEDs will require power manufacturers to focus on designs that are industrial grade, rugged and can be used outdoors.
The newly added Billboard segment is another emerging market with tremendous potential. Digital LED billboards and large signs along roads and highways and in commercial, sports and entertainment facilities are large and require multiple power supplies. In fact, of the half million billboards in the US, only about 1 in 750 of them use LED lighting solutions. This means the market potential for digital signage has barely been tapped, and a huge market for embedded power supplies exists.
Building Automation Systems (BAS) are another new area of opportunity identified for embedded power supplies. Heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC), lighting and security control systems have traditionally been split, but there is a trend towards merging these systems into a more efficient and cost-effective building management system. In fact, HVAC and lighting control alone comprise more than 70% of a building’s energy consumption, making these segments one of the most promising areas of application. Opportunities exist in both new construction and existing facilities. As an example, more than 80% of commercial buildings in the US are more than 10 years old, representing a significant opportunity for energy efficiency retrofits.
One of the more important findings is that the emerging applications – Smart Grid, SSL and Building Automation – are growing three times faster that the traditional applications, and are projected to make up an increasing portion of the unit market over the forecast period, growing from 22.0% to 32.0% of the unit market share.
Traditional applications will continue to play a large role in the growth of the embedded power supply market. The Communications and Computer segments are both expected to see substantial growth and be among the most reliable industries. Driven by desktops, servers and peripherals, the computer market will see a mix of both high average selling prices (ASPs) and large commoditized unit sales, resulting in one of the largest overall dollar markets in this report. In contrast, the smaller Communications segment will be driven by just four applications, including Customer Premises Equipment (CPE), CATV, Set-top-boxes and PoE, which make up not only a large dollar market, but the largest dollar market share increase over the forecast period. Despite the large unit market, the Consumer segment remains mainly captive production. As a result, the traditional three “Cs” of the industry make up a much smaller portion of the dollar market, providing opportunities for manufacturers in other areas of application.
As stated, the introduction of the SSL market has had a profound effect on the embedded ac-dc power supply market, and led by the Signals and Signs and Illumination segments, will see both its unit and dollar markets increase significantly over the forecast period. Due to a number of factors, including the ongoing Asian situation, it is expected that pricing will not follow the traditional pricing patterns, which includes a steady annual pricing decline. As a result, the average selling prices (ASPs) of ac-dc power supplies will be much flatter than originally expected. In fact, in the first year of the forecasts, the ASPs for a number of applications will actually see a small increase, while others will see either no increase at all, or will realize a smaller-than-expected decline.
The pricing adjustments will have the most impact on the larger, more established segments in this report – the Communications, Computer and Consumer markets. Many of the applications in these segments rely on large-volume, highly commoditized power supplies, and any negative influence in price is more likely to result in shortages and increased material costs for power supply manufacturers. Although the unit projections remain the same, each of the sub-segments will experience either an increasing or flat average selling price in the first year.
Acknowledging that standards have always played a role in the design of ac-dc power supplies, packaging by three industry standards, the Advanced Telecommunications Computing Architecture (ATCA), MicroTCA and CompactPCI Serial packaging configurations have been added to this report. The forecasts for these packaging styles are limited to those applications covered in the report: CPE, CATV, blade servers, Type B, C and D servers, industrial automation and process control, class II medical, COTS and mil/aero. The report identifies how the further expansion of these technologies could provide significant opportunities for the makers of embedded power.
Over 90 tables and graphs are presented in this report covering the embedded power supply market for 41 applications. The focus of this comprehensive analysis will be to provide decision makers with a detailed and insightful look at the current and future opportunities available in the embedded power supply market.
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