Date: 17/08/2009

Infineon again lead in the discrete power semiconductor market

0.1% improvement in efficiency at kilo-watts and mega-watts of load in high power applications save far more power than 10 times more improvement in portable electronic devices. It's very important to choose highly reliable and efficient power switching devices such as MOSFETs and IGBTs at higher loads. The market for such devices is growing faster due to growth in solar PV and wind power systems and also electric driven automotives. Infineon looks to be leading in understanding the market requirements of power electronics industry faster than other power semiconductor vendors. Market researcher IMS has again ranked Infineon as number one vendor in discrete power semiconductor group. The main advantage of Infineon or any such leading discrete semiconductor is not that of Moore's law but it's more of fundamental semiconductor physics.

As per IMS Research's 2009 report "The World Market for Power Semiconductor Discretes & Modules" the global market for these devices grew by 1.5 percent in 2008, to US $13.96 billion (from US $13.76 billion in 2007), whereas Infineon grew by 7.8 percent. Infineon share is 10.2 percent of that market. Infineon also continues to lead in the EMEA region (Europe, Middle East, Africa) and the Americas with 22.8 percent and 11.2 percent share, respectively, in these regions.

For the renewable energy sector market research firm IMS Research anticipates a five-year CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) of 18.2 percent with wind power and solar power installations being the main drivers.

"We are proud to maintain and build our number one market position. Power semiconductors play a central role in global efforts to improve energy efficiency in automotive and industrial applications, and to help improve the utilisation of electrical energy in home appliances", said Arunjai Mittal, Division President of the Industrial & Multimarket Division at Infineon Technologies AG. "Building on nearly 60 years of experience in the field of power semiconductors, Infineon will continue innovation focusing on best price-performance ratios at system level, enabling system miniaturization and lowest system costs".