Record-high energy costs boosting drives market
The worldwide low-voltage ac and dc motor-drives market saw unprecedented growth in 2006, according to IMS Research, Wellingborough, U.K.
Recordhigh
energy prices and greater awareness
of the energy saving of motor drives
helped expand the market by nearly 15%
over 2005 to more than $7.6 billion. The
market should grow 9% per year to surpass
$11.2 billion by 2011.
The Asia Pacific motor-drives market,
lead by China and India, was the
fastest growing segment. The size of the
Asia Pacific market will likely surpass
that of the Americas market this year,
and continue growing by more than 10%
per year over the next five years. The
EMEA (Europe, Mideast, and Africa)
market also experienced growth in 2006.
The Americas and Japanese markets for
motor drives performed well, but grew
slower than Asia Pacific and EMEA.
Commercial HVAC, food & beverage,
metal processing, textiles, and utilities
continued to lead the market, together
representing more than one-third of the
low-voltage drives market.