According to reports from Electronic Enthusiasts Network (by Li Ningyuan), there are three power supply design solutions—fully discrete, fully integrated, and partially integrated. Among these, integrated PMICs package traditional multi-output power supplies into a single chip, resulting in higher efficiency and smaller size for multi-power applications. This fully integrated power solution is essential in wearable devices such as smartphones and TWS earbuds, as well as in communication base stations, automotive, industrial, and IoT applications.Its high integration is due to the fact that it integrates multiple power rails and power management functions within a single chip, providing energy distribution in multiple power scenarios and maximizing the stable operation of the power system. As a key component managing the power supply for electronic devices, PMICs integrate multiple functions to utilize space more effectively and manage system power. Although inconspicuous, the PMIC market is one of the largest segments of the analog chip market.
The Booming PMIC Market Amid Chip Shortages
From a technical perspective, the boom in PMICs is attributed to their simplicity and scalability. Hardware-configurable PMICs offer great flexibility in power supply design scalability, allowing the use of resistive dividers and individual enable pins on each regulator to flexibly adjust voltage and perform timing control.The software configurability of PMICs provides design customization flexibility. With the help of SPI and I2C interfaces, PMIC configuration can be easily accomplished at runtime using an MCU or processor. This high scalability and programmability of PMICs mean that power designs containing multiple modules can be simplified, reducing development cycles and BOM costs. It is important to note that besides size and efficiency, scalability is a key factor in flexible power design. PMICs with scalability/reusability have a clear advantage in shortening development time and saving costs, coupled with their wide application range, the popularity of PMICs is understandable.On the other hand, amid the global chip shortage, power conversion and management chips have become almost hard currency in the market. With the continuous increase in applications such as 5G, IoT, and automotive, downstream demand remains high. Consumer enthusiasm for such scenarios has led to a surge in demand for compact, battery-powered devices, necessitating more high-integration power management solutions, which in turn drives up the prices of PMIC chips.
PMIC Market Landscape
From the perspective of application scenarios, PMICs in wearable devices, sensors, and IoT devices are relatively stable in both capacity and price. The performance requirements for this type of PMIC are relatively relaxed, focusing more on small size and low power consumption, which results in thinner profit margins. In these application scenarios, domestic PMICs are gradually replacing international PMICs, but it will take time to fully replace them given the huge demand for power management chips in China. Many domestic manufacturers are making efforts in this field, such as Chipone Microelectronics, Sanken Electric, Jingfeng Mingyuan, Shanghai Belling, Srypu, Will Semiconductor, Mingwei Electronics, and Fuman Microelectronics.High-performance PMIC products maintain a high profit margin, especially core automotive-grade PMICs, as the domestic replacement rate for these products is currently low, yet the demand for new energy vehicles is very large. In such applications, the requirements for PMIC power density, EMI, noise, and accuracy are very strict. High-performance PMICs need to maximize performance per watt, reduce power loss, and enhance the system efficiency of SoCs, FPGAs, and application processors. Leading manufacturers in this sector are well-known international companies such as TI, Qualcomm, Infineon, ADI, ST, NXP, onsemi, Renesas, Microchip, and Rohm.
What Is the Strength of Domestic PMICs?
There are many domestic PMIC manufacturers, and here we will look at some of their products to assess the strength of domestic PMICs.SrypuSrypu’s PMICs have a wide range of applications, including inverters and power modules in the new energy vehicle sector, base stations, optical networks, repeaters, wireless terminals in the information and communication sector, and variable frequency drives, drones, motor drives, robots, programmable logic controls, and more in the industrial control sector. The recently released industrial-grade wide-voltage DC/DC TPP36208 series is a 36V, 2A miniaturized high-reliability industrial device, with an input voltage range of 4.5V-36V and an output current of 2A, meeting various industrial application requirements. The TPP36208 series can also provide versions with a maximum switching frequency of 2.2MHz. The TPL8151 series is a newly released low-dropout (LDO) voltage regulator, with a wide input range of 29V, a maximum output current of 1.5A, a high power ripple rejection ratio of 79dB, and low output noise of 17.5uVrms, suitable for various applications in industrial and communication sectors.Chipone MicroelectronicsChipone Microelectronics specializes in power management chips, primarily used in household appliance power supplies, standard power supplies, and industrial power supplies. Currently, they have over a thousand effective SKUs, mainly divided into HV product lines, LV product lines, and driver product lines. Here, we highlight one of their classic smart appliance power application chips—an offline integrated power control chip PN8034. The PN8034 integrates a PFM controller and a 650V high avalanche MOSFET for a small power non-isolated switch power supply with significantly reduced external components. The DIP7 package has a steady-state output power of 3.6W, while the SOP7 package has a steady-state output power of 3.0W. The PN8034 also improves EMI characteristics through frequency reduction modulation technology.Sanken ElectricSanken Electric’s power management analog chips include LDOs, microprocessor power monitoring circuits, DC/DC buck converters, DC/DC boost converters, DC/DC buck-boost converters, AMOLED power chips, battery charge and discharge management chips, and battery protection chips. Here, we highlight the world-class adjustable frequency DC-DC buck chip—SGM6010, which has an input voltage range of 3V to 5.5V, 3A output current, and programmable frequency from 300kHz to 2MHz, with an efficiency of up to 95%.Jingfeng MingyuanJingfeng Mingyuan’s business covers LED lighting driver chips, motor driver chips, AC/DC power management chips, and DC-DC power management chips, and they are a leading player in the LED lighting driver chip market. Here, we highlight the ultra-low power non-isolated buck AC-DC constant voltage chip BP2525X, which is suitable for non-isolated power supplies in the range of 85V-265V. The BP2525X chip integrates a high-voltage power switch, utilizing unique voltage and current control technology, which eliminates the need for external loop compensation capacitors, achieving excellent constant voltage characteristics, significantly saving system costs and volume. The BP2525X chip employs multi-mode control technology and has patented technology for supplying VCC from a 3.3V output, effectively reducing system standby power consumption, improving efficiency, and minimizing noise during light load operation, with an output voltage accuracy of ±5%.Shanghai BellingShanghai Belling’s power management products include an automotive-grade LDO and an automotive-grade LED driver chip that achieved mass sales in 2021, with many other automotive-grade power management products in development. Here we select the series BL1555Q, which has a voltage range of 3.3V to 5.5V, with a low power consumption of 2.5uA across the entire voltage range and an accuracy of ±2%. The automotive-grade DC-DC chip LC2741Q features a built-in 75mΩ high-side MOSFET, providing up to 4A of continuous output current, with an output current accuracy within ±7%, eliminating the need for external compensation, with voltage accuracy of ±2%.Will SemiconductorWill Semiconductor’s PMICs WD3102C and WD3102CA are mainly used in AMOLED and LCD displays. The performance parameters of the two part numbers are quite similar, with a power supply voltage range of 2.5V to 4.6V, <1uA shutdown current, and automatic mode switching charge pump maintaining maximum efficiency. These chips are optimized for products powered by single-cell batteries, with output currents of up to 60 mA (with VOP-VON output voltage accuracy of ±1.5%) or 100 mA (with VOP-VON output voltage accuracy of ±2%).There are many other high-performance domestic PMIC series, just to name a few.
Conclusion
In non-automotive applications, the performance of domestic PMICs has clearly shown that they are not at a disadvantage. They have filled a significant gap in the household appliances, industrial control, and consumer electronics markets. Especially in consumer electronics, the efficiency and standby power consumption of internal power chips directly affect product usage time and performance, which is a direct consumer experience. The gradual increase in market share of domestic PMICs is also a reflection of the improvement in their performance. Of course, domestic PMIC brands started later compared to international giants and still need long-term experience accumulation.Many domestic players targeting automotive applications are also in the phase of developing automotive-grade PMICs. Manufacturers like Srypu, Sanken Electric, Biyi Microelectronics, and Nanchip have been continuously investing in the supply capacity of automotive PMICs for many years. There are many types of automotive-grade PMICs, and the application scenarios vary. For domestic automotive-grade PMICs to gain a foothold in the automotive supply chain, they must choose a suitable development path for PMICs, strengthen technological innovation, and launch stable products. Strong technical capabilities and high-quality quality management capabilities are indispensable.
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