Topics Covered Include:
• AC-DC POWER SUPPLY MARKET ANALYSIS AND TRENDS
• REGIONAL MARKET FORECASTS
• COMPETITIVE ENVIRONMENTThe 236-page Eighth Edition of “AC-DC Power Supplies: Global Market Forecasts and Competitive Environment,” is a comprehensive quantitative and qualitative examination of the embedded ac-dc power supplies.
It details worldwide and regional opportunities and threats inherent in this large and ever-evolving market.
While the report has a solid history of analyzing the Merchant ac-dc power supplies, this update has added insightful unit forecasts and discussions of the Captive ac-dc power supply market as well.
This further segmentation of the captive market allows for both semiconductor and power supply manufacturers to gain a greater understanding of the total available power supply market.
Additionally, the rapidly growing China region is separated from the greater Asia market to provide an in-depth understating of China as it grows from a manufacturing hub to a large consumer of ac-dc power supplies.
This report also includes a comprehensive analysis of the leading competitors.
Forecasts are provided in Units, Dollars, and Average Selling Prices (ASPs).
ScopeThis report encompasses the following areas:(1) Estimates for the potential worldwide market for embedded ac-dc power supplies in units from 2006 to 2011, by wattage, by design type, by packaging style and by application.
Revenue and pricing forecasts are provided by wattage and application.
In addition to worldwide sales trends, forecasts are provided for North America, Europe, Asia and China.
(2) Forecasts are given for the following application segments: Communications, Computers, Industrial, Instrumentation, Medical, Military/Aerospace, and Consumer.
Additionally, the Communications, Computer and Consumer markets are segmented to provide greater granularity in these large and diverse markets.
Communications is segmented into: Wireline, Wireless, CPE, CATV, Set-top-Boxes and PoE.
The Computer segment is divided into Enterprise Servers, Servers, Blade Servers, Desktop/Workstations, Peripherals, Special Systems, Storage and CRT Monitors.
The Consumer segment includes Home Audio, CRT TVs, Large Screen LCD TVs, Plasma TVs, Rear Projections TVs, Gaming Devices and DVD Players/Recorders.
(3) Wattage forecasts are segmented into the following six categories: 1000W.
Package Style segments include: Open-Frame, Enclosed, PC Board, Rackmount and DIN-rail.
Forecasts are also provided for Design Types: Standard, Modified-Standard, and Custom.
(3) Identification and discussion of general application trends in the embedded ac-dc power supply market, including discussions of economic conditions, emerging markets such as Power-over-Ethernet and blade servers, rapid-growth markets such as Plasma TVs, Large Screen LCD TVs, and Set-Top-Boxes and slow-growth segments such as enterprise servers and home audio.(4) Provides a detailed competitive analysis, including competitor profiles, manufacturing, and product descriptions.
This chapter also includes ac-dc power supply company market shares by region.MethodologyThe data presented in this report are derived from a comprehensive study of the worldwide ac-dc power supplies market.
The detailed forecasts are based on primary data gathered in discussions with major users of ac-dc power supplies in all regions of the world.
All OEM consumption data were gathered on a confidential basis.
These consumption data were supplemented with discussions with major makers of ac-dc power supplies.
It should be emphasized that the input into this study was the result of firsthand discussions with OEM users of ac-dc power supplies.
The conversations with ac-dc power supplies makers were limited and secondary in importance in the preparation of this report.
Primary data were obtained using “open questionnaires.” A combination of telephone and in-person interviews were conducted.
In-person interviews were conducted either in the plant where the individual works or at various trade shows.
The interviews conducted at trade shows were typically performed in a more informal atmosphere and were generally very successful in gathering good quantities of hard data and insights from the individuals being interviewed.
All interviews conducted in the course of this research were performed on a confidential basis.
The data were used in combination with the responses from all other respondents.The primary and secondary research included all possible major application areas for ac-dc power supplies.
The data gathering methodology included primary research and data collection in all regions worldwide and was not limited in any way to North America.
Secondary research was performed using all available published sources including, but not limited to, nonproprietary, previously performed and related work by the Darnell Group, all available trade journals, proceedings from related trade conferences, previous industry studies, annual reports, 10Ks, advertising, product literature, and so on.All the forecasts in this report are done on Excel worksheets, using Excel formulas.
A formula is an equation that performs operations on worksheet data.
The use of formulas in calculations can generate decimals, which require rounding to the nearest significant figure.
As a result of rounding, the sum of a set of numbers may be different from what the numbers appear to add up to.
This is because when the Excel spreadsheet adds up the numbers it takes into account the decimals that are not shown in the numbers.
The reason we choose to leave the sums as they are is to retain the formulas in the spreadsheet and maintain the integrity of statistical analysis.Correlation and AnalysisBy employing multiple primary and secondary information sources and using various forms of primary information-gathering techniques, all results were cross-correlated and tested for reasonableness.
In addition, the thorough and appropriate use of statistical analysis techniques insured that the conclusions drawn from this report accurately represent the surveyed markets.
Marketing and pricing forecasts were cross-correlated using both ac-dc power supply industry production figures and consumption statistics.
At the same time, pricing analysis was a major tool employed to determine the reasonableness of the resulting forecasts.
The Darnell Group believes that this combination of thorough and detailed data gathering, together with the use of sophisticated statistical analysis, has yielded a high degree of accuracy in the final report.Darnell Group forecasts are constructed from the “top down.” Methodologically, top-level numbers are the most verifiable, consistent and least open to interpretation.
Bottom-up “surveys” of key manufacturers have been used only for purposes of validation, not for developing specific forecasts.
Using this methodology, regional breakdowns, product categories, power levels and end users can be predicted with a high degree of accuracy.
As a result, Darnell Group forecasts are not based on the “self-report” of companies, which have a low rate accuracy and are considered the least reliable statistically.These forecasts are a reflection of Darnell Group analysis of end-market product and technology trends and the effect those trends will have on sales of power supplies.
They are sales forecasts, not regional production forecasts.
No forecast is meaningful without an accompanying analysis, which provides detailed insights into the trends behind the numbers.
Darnell Group is confident that this detailed methodology has produced the most accurate forecast possible for the markets and technologies discussed in this analysis of the global ac-dc power supply market.
As a consequence, the projections and observations made in this report provide a sound foundation for market and product planning efforts.Traditionally, the embedded ac-dc power supply market is one of the more staid segments in the power electronics industry.
However, several divergent trends are creating a number of opportunities and threats.
The ongoing rise of the consumer device market is driving increasing unit sales, but at the same time bringing down the average selling price of power supplies.
Additionally, the consumer devices market is shifting from captive production to merchant production.
Delta Electronics, the embedded ac-dc power supply market share leader, experienced growth of 43% during 2005, partially as a result of a growing focus on providing power supplies for markets that have traditionally been captive production.
Many other companies are following a similar path.Executive summaryAs a result of the rise of the consumer market, and because of its shift from captive to merchant production, forecasts for both the merchant and merchant/captive markets are provided in this report.
Combined worldwide merchant and captive embedded ac-dc power supply units sales are expected to rise from 890.8 million units in 2006 to 1,134.4 million units in 2011, an annualized growth rate of 5.0%.
During the same period, merchant revenue is projected to rise from $11.2 billion to $14.8 billion, at an annualized rate of 5.8%.
In addition to consumer devices, there are several applications and technical trends that are expected to drive the embedded ac-dc power supply market.
Within the computer segment, Intel’s focus on dual core processors and the move towards the BTX will slow down desktop PCs’ continual rise to higher wattages.
Blade servers are diminishing enterprise server and traditional server growth, but are providing greater revenue opportunities because they are higher wattage power supplies that require more advanced features, including redundancy and hot-swappability.
The computer storage market is also providing strong growth, as companies’ data storage needs increase because of financial regulations and the growing broadband content provided on the web.
The communications market is undergoing its own transformation as Voice-over Internet Protocol (VoIP) drives opportunities for Power-over-Ethernet (PoE) and Customer Premises Equipment.
Additional communications opportunities can be found as cable operators and traditional telecom carriers duel over triple-play services.
Set-top-box sales will remain one of the largest and fastest-growing communications applications.Smaller niche markets are also providing strong growth.
Industrial is benefiting from continued rise of China.
Light emitting diodes for signage are also providing growth drivers for ac-dc power supply makers outside of the traditional “three-C” markets of Computers, Communications and Consumer.
Power supplies for the medical market are seeing a boom driven by the “consumerization” of medical devices trend.
Counter intuitively, the Military/Aerospace market is seeing slower growth than it has in recent years, as military budgets are drawn thin by the prolonged military presence in Iraq and Afghanistan.
In order to best describe the multitude of application trends that are driving the embedded ac-dc power supply market, 25 distinct applications are forecasted in four regions and worldwide.Power levels continue to rise, particularly as servers migrate to blade servers and applications such as PoE gain steam.
The potential move to PoE-Plus, which is expected to at least double the power PoE offers, will significantly increase the power level of these devices.
Additionally, the move towards the distributed power architectures and, more specifically, the Intermediate Bus Architecture, has created increasing demand for ac-dc front ends.
This results in a greater share of rack-mounted power supplies and also brings up the average wattage of power supplies.
DIN-Rail power supplies, while still a small market worldwide, are slowly gaining share in North America as companies such as Lambda Electronics have brought this predominately European package to the North America and Asia markets.
Also, as the Consumer market becomes more merchant, there has been a growing demand for standard-designed power supplies.
The increasing use of higher wattage power supplies, particularly in the broad computer market, is placing increasing focus on the efficiency of embedded ac-dc power supplies.
The US’s Environmental Protection Agency’s Energy Star Program has already enacted voluntary efficiency standards for external power supplies, and Energy Star has begun to focus on embedded power supplies by drafting applications standards that include specifications for the power supply in use.
However, driven by regulation or not, the current economic condition requires a move towards more efficient power supplies.
Similarly, power factor correction is increasingly being used as the average wattage level of applications increase.The move towards digital power control and conversion remains in its infancy, but is beginning to play a role in the ac-dc power supply market.
While dc-dc converters have received the majority of the attention, a number of digitally controlled ac-dc front ends have come to market that will have implications for future power supply design.
Regionally, Asia and China have become a much larger share of the embedded power supply market, especially as the sales of consumer devices have grown.
However, North America and Europe remain large markets, especially for power supplies for higher-end applications, typically with higher wattages.
As a result, these two regions maintain strong revenue opportunities, despite slower-growing unit sales.While the broad economic picture and application trends provide promise for ac-dc power supply makers, the economic trends of the power supply market itself poses greater threats.
The market has recently entered a period of consolidation, especially for the major players.
Within the last year, three of the top five power supply companies have been involved in major acquisitions.
These mergers give the new companies greater economies of scale.
As a result, while the ac-dc power supply market is still serviced by hundreds if not thousands of companies, market share of the largest few continues to grow.
This is an increasing threat to the other power suppliers in the market and may necessitate more consolidation in an attempt to level the playing field.
To capture all of the dynamics in the embedded ac-dc power supply, detailed profiles of more than 40 companies are provided.
Additionally, market shares for each of the top-five companies Worldwide and in North America, Europe, and Asia are given.