Innoscience recently announced that its INN700TK190B GaN chip is integrated into Legrand’s latest USB wall socket products aimed at the China market. The Yijing 27W and Yijing PLUS 45W wall sockets utilise the GaN FET. With fewer switching losses in comparison to silicon FETs, the GaN chips allowing for greater power density whilst minimising thermal build-up allowing for higher power delivery in a compact form factor.

DATAportl’s recent market analysis of the USB wall socket market revealed a lag in the innovation of USB wall socket design compared with external USB power adapters and chargers of which several designs now offer power ratings greater than 100W in a compact form factor. The report forecasts the market by 11 different power rating categories from 5W or less to 150W and whilst the largest volume of shipments is predicted to remain in the 10W-15W per port category over the next 5 years, the strongest growth is predicted for USB wall sockets with USB port power ratings of 30W plus.

Legrand is also identified as the leading global supplier of USB wall sockets in DATAportal’s analysis. It’s adoption of GaN technology is critical in retaining the levels of safety required whilst delivering higher power in a smaller footprint. It is expected that other major players will follow suit in driving power ratings up in their USB wall socket products.

Design complexity and power rating are not the only challenges identified by DATAportl in this market. In residential installations, the placement of sockets is limited by where they can be conveniently close to furniture for use of the device whilst charging. The number of wall sockets in a home also varies dramatically by region with American homes having the largest number of sockets due to the average size and placement. Outside of residential use, demand in commercial (e.g. offices) and hotels & airport sectors is also forecast to be strong with requirements for higher power ratings per port for powering devices such as notebooks and fast charging of cell phones. This is expected to drive additional volume of GaN FETs and ICs.

A more in-depth summary of DATAportal’s USB Wall Socket Market Analysis is available here. To discuss the market in more detail or gain access to the full report, please get in touch.

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