Infineon Technologies is the global market leader in power semiconductors for the eighth consecutive year. According to IMS Research data, the company again strengthened its position in 2010 and commands an 11.2 percent share of the overall market, ahead of Toshiba (6.8%), STMicroelectronics (6.5%) and Mitsubishi (6.5%). The IMS Research study shows that Infineon holds a market share of 8.6 percent in the discrete power semiconductor segment, making the company the clear number one there for the first time.

IMS Research continues to see the longer-term prospects of the global power semiconductor market in a very positive light and forecasts market growth by around 50 percent to reach about US dollar 24.0 billion by 2015. Having undergone a distinct decline in 2009, the global power semiconductor market recovered in 2010, increasing by 40 percent to approximately US dollar 16 billion. That is two billion more than in the previous record year of 2008.

The market for power semiconductor modules increased by 58 percent in 2010 to close on US dollar 3.5 billion. The power modules market growth is being driven primarily by industrial motor drives, renewable energy, hybrid and electric cars, and consumer electronics. In 2010, growth of the power modules market outpaced that of power discretes, which was up 37 percent to US dollars 12.3 billion.

This segment benefited particularly from high demand in the sectors of PCs and servers, lighting applications, energy-efficient industrial and renewable energy applications, and household electronics. An increase in the production of air-conditioning systems and washing machines with variable speed drives (VSD) is being seen particularly in China.