According to the latest statistics from IMS Research, the worldwide low voltage AC & DC motor drives market experienced unprecedented growth in 2006. Record high energy prices combined with improved awareness of the energy saving benefits of motor drives have contributed to increasing the market by nearly 15% over 2005 levels, to more than $7.6 billion. It is expected to continue growing by an average of 9% per year in terms of revenues to surpass $11.2 billion by 2011.

The Asia Pacific motor drives market, lead by explosive economic growth in China and India, continued to be the fastest growing segment. It is expected to surpass the size of the Americas market in 2007, and continue growing by more than 10% per year over the next five years. The EMEA market also experienced robust growth in 2006 due to high demand for motor drives by the booming heavy industry of the region. The Americas and Japanese markets for motor drives also performed well, but grew at a slower pace than Asia Pacific and EMEA.

Industry sectors such as commercial HVAC, food & beverage, metal processing, textiles and utilities continued to lead the market in motor drive utilization, together representing more than one third of the total low voltage drives market. In addition, new segments such as the renewable energy sector provide opportunity for further growth. According to IMS Research analyst Alex Chausovsky, “The renewable energy sector is a great prospect for motor drive manufacturers. Electricity generation from wind power is growing by 25% per year, requiring some $23 billion of new generating equipment, most of which is currently using motor drives. Furthermore, there are new technologies on the horizon that attempt to harness the energy in ocean waves and sub-glacial ice flows, that present tremendous opportunities for motor drives manufacturers.”

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