GaN Semiconductor Devices Market On-Going Research And Development Eliminate Issues Related To Reliability
Owing to characteristics such
as high resistance to temperature, low power consumption, better
thermal stability, high breakdown voltage, and high electron
mobility, GaN semiconductors are widely acknowledged as a green
technology across numerous industries. GaN semiconductor devices are
being heavily used in light emitting diodes (LEDs), power
electronics, and radio frequency (RF) amplifiers owing to their
unique properties. With advancement in the GaN technology and
reduction in costs, the use of GaN semiconductors is expected to
substantially rise across an increasing number of commercial
application areas in the near future.
Rising Set of Applications
and Focus on R&D to Boost Demand in North America and Europe
North America and Europe are
presently the dominant regional markets for GaN semiconductor devices
and are expected to retain dominance over the next few years as well.
The rising focus of the Europe Space Agency (ESA) on the increased
usage of GaN semiconductors across space projects and the use of
GaN-based transistors in the military and defense sectors in North
America will help the GaN semiconductor devices market gain traction.
In the past few years, GaN
technology has witnessed rapid advancements and vast improvement in
the ability of GaN semiconductors to work under operating
environments featuring high frequency, power density, and temperature
with improved linearity and efficiency. These advancements has
boosted the usage of GaN semiconductor devices across an increased
set of applications and have played an important role in the market’s
overall growth lately.
Along with this factor, the
increased usage of GaN semiconductor devices in the defense sector
has also emerged as a key driver of the global GaN semiconductor
devices market. The continuous rise in defense budgets of developing
and developed countries as well as the demand for inclusion of the
technologically most advanced products in the arsenal of national and
international armies will propel the global GaN semiconductor devices
market in the near future.
Relatively Higher Costs of
GaN Semiconductor Devices to Hinder Market Growth
GaN semiconductors are
relatively expensive as compared to silicon-based semiconductors
owing to the high production costs of gallium nitride as compared to
silicon carbide. Further addition in the cost of GaN semiconductors
is ensued due to the high cost of fabrication, packaging, and support
electronics. Silicon-based semiconductors have witnessed a
significant decline in their costs over the past few years, making
high cost of GaN semiconductors a foremost challenge that could
hinder their large-scale adoption.
The issue can be tackled by
producing GaN in bulk. However, there is currently no widespread
method that can be used for the purpose owing to the requisition of
high operating pressure and temperature and limited scalability of
the material.
The global market for gallium
nitride (GaN) semiconductor devices is largely consolidated, with the
top four companies commanding a share of over 65% of the overall
market in 2015, states Transparency Market Research (TMR) in a new
report. The dominant company among these four top vendors, Efficient
Power Conversion Corporation, accounted for a 19.2% share of the
global market in the said year. The other three topmost companies of
the global market, which collectively enjoyed a considerably large
share in the overall global market in the said year, are NXP
Semiconductors N.V., GaN Systems Inc., and Cree Inc.
This review is based on a new
market research report published by Transparency Market Research,
titled “GaN Semiconductor Devices Market - Global Industry
Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast, 2016 – 2024.”
Looking at the on-going
research and development activities undertaken in the market,
attempts made to eliminate issues related to reliability of GaN
semiconductors is expected to be an important area of focus of key
vendors in the near future. Transparency Market Research states that
the global GaN semiconductor devices market will expand at a high
17.0% CAGR over the period between 2016 and 2024. With such
exponential growth, the market, which had a valuation of US$870.9 mn
in 2015, is projected to rise to US$3,438.4 mn by 2024. Of the key
end-use industries utilizing GaN semiconductors, the aerospace and
defense sector dominates, accounting for a share of over 42% of the
global market in 2015.
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