Transparency Market Research (TMR), Pune, India, reports that its analysis shows the global market for gallium nitride semiconductor devices will rise from $870.9 million in 2015, to $3.4 billion 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.
The market is largely consolidated, with the top four companies commanding a share of over 65% of the overall market in 2015. Efficient Power Conversion Corp. accounted for a 19.2% share of the global market, with NXP Semiconductors N.V., GaN Systems Inc., and Cree Inc. accounting for the rest of the 65% share. Attempts to eliminate issues related to reliability of GaN semiconductors are expected to be an important area of focus for vendors over the near future.
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 European Space Agency 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 rapidly advanced, and vast improvements have been made in the ability of GaN semiconductors to work under operating environments such as high frequency, power density, and temperature. 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 continuing 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.
GaN semiconductors are relatively expensive compared to silicon-based semiconductors because of the high production costs of gallium nitride versus silicon carbide. GaN also has higher costs for fabrication, packaging, and support electronics. On the other hand, costs for silicon-based semiconductors have significantly declined over the past few years, making high cost of GaN semiconductors a challenge that could hinder their large-scale adoption.
http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/pressrelease/gallium-nitride.htm
