Smart meter shipments to triple by 2016?

The market analyst says it expects the devices to be rapidly adopted because of their capability to save energy and improve the efficiency of electrical grids and power utilities. IHS reports that worldwide smart meter shipments are set to rise to 62million units in 2016, up from 20.5m in 2011, while global sales of semiconductors used in the devices are set to rise to $1.1billion in 2016, up from $505.6m in 2011. Jacobo Carrasco Heres, analyst at IHS, said: "The rollout of smart meters is being propelled by government support and regulations. For example, in the US, stimulus money from the Smart Grid Investment Grant (SGIG) program is spurring the replacement of conventional meters with new smart models. Meanwhile, the European Union is targeting an 80% conversion to smart meters by 2020, representing shipments of 180m units." IHS says the market will drive the rise of a large associated semiconductor business. The semiconductors that contribute most to the cost of smart meters are logic ICs, mainly metrology and communications ICs. The next biggest contributors are microcomponents, such as mcus, dsps and microprocessors. Smart meters are making greater use of SoC devices, which IHS believes will integrate most of the functionality of the product into a single device. Heres noted: "While the market for smart meter semiconductors will rise in the coming years, revenue growth will flatten starting in 2015. The rising usage of SoCs will accelerate price erosion and cause overall revenue to level out starting in 2015, although smart meter shipments will keep increasing."