Market and Technology Trends

Power Gate Driver 2022

By Yole Intelligence — May 2022

Gate driver ICs are migrating towards more advanced galvanic isolation technologies to meet performance and safety requirements, making them worth $2.7B by 2027

$2.7B market by 2027: More gate drivers needed to respond to power electronics market demand

Most power electronics applications are driven by regulations related to major climate change agreements. These applications include green energy production and high efficiency distribution, vehicle electrification and energy consumption reduction in manufacturing. Gate drivers are essential devices when running power converters. The gate driver IC market was worth $1.73B in 2021. From there, a Compound Annual Growth Rate from 2020-2026 (CAGR20-26) of 7.9% will see it reach $2.7B by 2027. The application that will have the highest growth rate between 2021-2027 will be electric vehicles (xEVs) with a CAGR20-26 of 32%. On the other hand, the most prominent application is motor drives, representing around 66 % of the total gate driver IC market in 2021.

A detailed forecast for different applications and gate driver ICs by isolation type, configuration, and device driven is provided in this report.

Will new gate driver suppliers shake up the historical monopoly of Europe, USA and Japan?

Gate driver manufacturers are spread around the globe. The supply chain is segmented into different business models. One company can use different business models depending on requirements, target application, and volumes. Most of the leading players such as Texas Instruments (TI) and Infineon are expanding their business to new segments and new products to widen their portfolio and secure the supply chain.

Although a large portion of power devices are sold in China, the gate driver market is still dominated by leading international players. However, with the already imminent growth of the country’s electric vehicle market, local companies could be carving out a niche for themselves as major suppliers and could be of concern to current market leaders. Indeed, they seem to have decided to make the leap to new galvanic isolation technologies that allow their products’ use in the most advanced and promising applications.
A dedicated chapter about supply chain, business models, latest mergers and acquisitions and more information about the main Chinese newcomers can be found in this report.

Migration towards more advanced galvanic isolation technologies has started

Today, the gate driver IC market is dominated by level shifter-type gate drivers, followed by non-isolated gate drivers. These are used in non-critical systems, up to 600V. When better isolation is required, optocoupling galvanic isolation used to be a good option. However, with higher performance and efficiency requirements, inductive and capacitive isolation are gaining market share. Most of the gate driver IC manufacturers have one of these technologies in their portfolio. This also includes gate drivers for WBG devices, which require better gate driver functions, including extra safety requirements

Regarding the xEV segment, Yole has identified that xEV-making OEMs and system integrators prefer to use gate driver ICs rather than gate driver boards for traction inverters implemented in the main printed circuit board (PCB) motherboard together or next to the microcontroller unit (MCU). Furthermore, since the global xEV market is experiencing a big increase in volume gate driver ICs remain a more interesting solution from the cost point of view.

Key features

Market metrics and forecasts, by application and product type, in Munits and $M, 2021-2027
Market and technology trends, by application
Description and analysis of the various established business models, including integrated device manufacturers and foundries
Market shares of main players
Manufacturing trends toward 300mm wafers
Main isolation techniques and trends
Integration trends
Gate drivers for wide band gap (WBG) devices

Product objectives

Understand the market dynamics for gate driver applications
Access the gate driver market for integrated circuits (ICs), intelligent power modules (IPMs), and Plug-and-Play gate driver boards, including new power semiconductor materials, specifically SiC and GaN
Provide an overall view of the competitive landscape of the gate driver market
Have a clear overview of current technologies for gate drivers
Identify the key technology trends that will shape the market in the future
Understand the main challenges and proposed innovations

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