Power management ICs are solid state devices that control the flow and direction of electrical power and come in a wide variety that include functions such as DC to DC conversion, battery charging, power-source selection, voltage scaling, and power sequencing. Such ICs are widely used in portable media players and mobile phones, as they provide highly integrated low-power microprocessor platform.
Clean technology refers to any process, product, or service that reduces negative environmental impacts through significant energy efficiency improvements, the sustainable use of resources, or environmental protection activities. In the past decade, demand for clean technologies has grown at a significant rate and has driven the growth of billion-dollar markets. Such markets continue to rise at a substantial rate.
Antenna Switch Modules (ASM) support telecommunication-related features in smartphones and other network-connected wireless devices. Multi-band network-connected wireless devices are supported by these modules.
Since the launch of the first iPhone ushered in the era of smartphones in 2007, mobile devices have been the dominant business driver for semiconductor and technology innovation. Billions of mobile phone units shipped in 2018 alone. While there are many handset manufacturers, the only profitable ones at present are Apple, Samsung and Huawei, who are also the top three in unit sales.
Analog ICs have been mostly, but not entirely, replaced by digital chips. Power supply ICs are usually analog chips and are widely used in power systems. The diode is a two-terminal semiconductor that converts or rectifies alternating current (AC) into direct current (DC). Various types of voltage regulators produce a clean DC without ripples and maintain an accurate DC voltage level. Without a voltage regulator, the power supply output voltage changes as DC load current changes.
Market forecasts predict an optimistic future for the Internet of Things (IoT) market; Forbes predicts that it will double to $520B in 2021, and other sources estimate the market will be as high as $6.5 Trillion by 2024. By 2020, there will be 8 billion connected objects in the world, and IoT devices are transforming the way we live whilst creating tremendous opportunities for everyone from established hi-tech juggernauts to start-up entrepreneurs.
Traditional clinical medical equipment has long relied on complex electronics and software to function. As the population ages and the societal factors drive home healthcare, new consumer grade medical devices are appearing that can perform increasingly advanced monitoring and diagnostics ranging from blood glucose monitoring and blood pressure measurement to body fat measurement.
By 2024, the consumer market is expected to reach $1.5 trillion in revenue. The introduction of the IoT combined with the trend toward automation and smart electronics has led to consumers buying connected electronics at an almost exponential rate. TechInsights actively explores the largest consumer electronics markets to:
Where PCs were once the main driving force in the Dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) industry; now, there is a much more diversified market fuelling innovation in this space. As the ever-increasing need for more powerful devices continues to build, so, too does the availability of high-capacity processors, semiconductors, and chipsets.