Growth in Merchant Power Supplies: A Look at the Market Trends Propelled by Emerging Applications

While the demand for traditional industrial and telecom systems continues to be low, the rapid expansion of consumer products such as tablet PCs and smartphones, along with the adoption of light-emitting diode (LED) lighting and growth in data centers, has helped to keep the global power supply market moving upward. Consequently, the worldwide market for merchant power supplies, which includes ac-dc switchers and dc-dc converters, grew a2.4% in 2013, according to the market research firm IHS Inc. At this rate, the total revenue generated last year for power supplies worldwide was roughly about US$21 billion, with ac-dc types collecting US$18 billion and dc-dc amounting to US$3 billion.