Nanomarkets has released a new report titled” Markets for Smart Lighting Driver, Controller and Sensor Chips”. The aim of this report is to identify the opportunities existing for electronics in smart lighting systems over the next eight years. It will be useful for firms in the semiconductor industry and also for firms in the LED and smart lighting systems sectors who need to gain a better insight into the opportunities in smart lighting electronics.
Interestingly, the report focuses on the newer kinds of smart lighting that are particularly designed for VLC, color tuning or energy efficiency, rather than the usual lighting management systems that have been around for years. In other words, the report focuses on areas where such profits could be made and these areas include chips and high end LED driver business and how these might transform in the near future to provide better control and match the lighting needs for energy efficiency.
The report also focuses on chips that are mainly involved with communications. These comprise VLC chips, ZigBee and Wi-Fi chips, and MPUs for controllers and smart lighting gateways. To this end, smart lighting control systems are estimated to become increasingly networked.
Smart lighting as such does not indicate the type of bulb and might include fluorescent or incandescent lighting. This report however focuses on the LED segment since the electronics for non-LED lighting systems is entirely commoditized and does not represent a significant opportunity; the interesting sector of the smart lighting market is also related to LED systems. In this perspective, the report observes that although CFLs are being increasingly used, they are likely to be replaced by LEDs within a short span of time.
The report does not discuss the development of LEDs, except where this has some significance to the main argument. This is because although LEDs are chips, they are linked to an entirely different set of suppliers than the electronic chips that are utilized in the smart lighting systems. Moreover, while the development of LEDs will involve more amount of work to make them more energy efficient, LEDs as such cannot be termed as “smart” in any interesting sense.
Besides covering various technologies and functionalities associated with smart lighting, the report also covers the requirements of all the major end-users of the market such as residential, commercial, industrial, public and government buildings. The report also discusses the existing markets for smart lighting in outdoor and transportation lighting.
As will all Nanomarkets reports, this one features an eight-year forecast of smart-lighting electronics with breakouts by type and application of chip. The report also contains a full critical appraisal of all products and market strategies in the emerging segment of the smart lighting industry. It also analyzes countries and regions that are most likely to be favorable to the penetration of smart lighting technology.