Power management: key analog IC growth driver

Power management is one of the hottest areas in semiconductors today. The ironic thing about the semiconductor industry (well-known to the analog guys) is this: the more the world goes 'digital', the more demand there is for analog ICs. That's because the real world is analog, so connecting the real world to the digital signal processors or microprocessors, which are at the heart of most electronic systems today, requires a variety of analog chips to condition and convert the signals between the analog and digital domains. At the heart of all this are power management chips. This article discusses the technical requirements for power management chips and trends going forward.