IC Insights believes the power transistor business is finally stabilizing and returning to more normal growth patterns in the 2014-2019 forecast period of the 2015 O-S-D Report. Driven by steady increases in automotive, consumer electronics, portable systems, industrial, and wireless communications markets, power transistor sales are expected to rise by a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.3% between 2014 and 2019, when worldwide revenues are forecast to reach $17.1 billion. Worldwide power transistor sales grew by a CAGR of 6.2% between 1994 and 2014.

The new O-S-D Report shows power transistors accounted for 58% of total discretes sales in 2014 versus 51% in 2004 and 36% in 1994. A number of power transistor technologies are needed to control, convert, and condition currents and voltages in an ever-expanding range of electronics—including battery-operated portable products, new energy-saving equipment, hybrid and electric vehicles, “smart” electric-grid applications, and renewable power systems.

Despite the spread of system applications, power transistors have struggled to maintain steady sales growth since the 2009 semiconductor downturn, when revenues fell by 16%. Power transistor sales sharply rebounded in the 2010 recovery year with a record-high 44% increase followed by 12% growth in 2011 to reach the current annual peak of $13.5 billion.

Power transistors then posted the first back-to-back annual sales declines in more than 30 years (-8% in 2012 and -6% in 2013) due to inventory corrections, price erosion, and delays in purchases by cautious equipment makers responding to economic uncertainty. Power transistors ended the two-year losing streak in 2014 with sales and unit shipments both growing by 14%.

IC Insights forecast that power transistor sales returning to a more normal 6% increase in 2015 with power FET revenues growing 6% to $7.4 billion, insulated-gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) modules climbing 8% to $3.1 billion, IGBT transistors rising 6% to $1.1 billion, and bipolar junction transistors being up 4% to $893 million this year.