Texas Instruments, Emerson Network Power, Primarion, Ericsson Power Modules and ROAL Electronics Lead in Digital Power
Linnea Brush, Senior Analyst with the Darnell Group, revealed the leaders in the scramble for the top spot in digital power at last week’s Digital Power Forum. The overall digital power leaders for 2007 are (in order from #1 to #5): Texas Instruments, Emerson Network Power, Primarion, Ericsson Power Modules, and ROAL Electronics. At last year’s conference, Brush revealed that the leaders in digital power for 2006 were Texas Instruments, Astec Power, Power-One, Primarion and Artesyn.
The 2007 leaders list is as interesting for what has changed as it is for what has not changed in the past year. Texas Instruments, Emerson and Primarion remained on the list for the second year. Texas Instruments continues to exhibit its dominant position in digital power. Last year, two divisions – Astec Power and Artesyn – represented Emerson. This year, they have formally merged into a single entity: Emerson Network Power. "Primarion, the other returning leader, demonstrates the importance of ’first mover‘ status," Brush observed while making the announcement.
"The ascension of two European companies into the top-five marks an important change." Brush observed. "ROAL Electronics has been making a consistent effort over several years and that effort is beginning to be rewarded. Ericsson, on the other hand, is a relative new comer to digital power. But Ericsson has worked very hard for the past year to increase its visibility in this segment, and has succeeded."
The "digital power leaders" list is part of a comprehensive annual benchmarking analysis published by Darnell Group. The 54-page, 2007 Edition of Digital Power Electronics: IC and Power Converter Benchmarking Survey is now available. The Darnell Group employed a series of benchmarking surveys to determine mind share. The initial benchmarking survey includes questions designed to determine who the leaders are in the Digital Power IC Market, the Digital Power Converter Market and the overall Digital Power Market. The survey results allow for the determination of broad leaders in the market, as well as for certain criteria in the market such as price, interoperability, design tools, pure digital solution, hybrid solutions and so on.
In an established market, leadership is normally determined by market share, which implies that companies that ship the largest dollar value of products are the inherent leaders in the market. As a result of market inertia, market share leaders tend to be somewhat stable, especially over a short time period. Although the digital power industry has progressed substantially over the past several years, it is still too early to properly quantify market share statistics. So, in order to determine market leadership among the numerous semiconductor and power converter companies involved in digital power management, the Darnell Group employed the use of mind share analysis. Mind share is a measure of how companies are perceived in the market by their competitors, suppliers and customers. Once the industry matures, mind share typically translates to market share, because the better the company’s products are perceived to be, the more likely the company is to generate sales and hence market share.
Complete information on Digital Power Electronics: IC and Power Converter Benchmarking Survey is available via the link below.
