iWatt opens new design center in Shenzhen

LOS GATOS, USA & SHENZHEN, CHINA: iWatt Inc., a developer of energy-efficient digital power supply control integrated circuits (ICs) used in leading-edge power supplies, announced that on June 1 it opened a new design center in the Shenzhen Science Park in Shenzhen, China.

The new design center -- intended to support the growing number of Asian manufacturers designing solid-state lighting (SSL), mobile phone chargers, and network adapters -- provides enough space for iWatt to triple its field application engineer (FAE) support in Asia. The company has consolidated its two existing Shenzhen design teams in the new location, and plans to add 20 FAEs to the team throughout the course of 2010. Currently, 90 percent of iWatt’s customers are in Asia, particularly China, prompting the company’s expansion.

iWatt’s engineers in the US design the company’s ICs, and then its FAE teams work with customers worldwide to integrate the ICs into their specific applications. The new Chinese design center, outfitted with state-of-the-art equipment, is responsible for supporting iWatt’s local FAE teams based in China, Korea, Japan and Taiwan, and its distributors worldwide.

Asia is becoming a leading design center for light-emitting diode (LED) SSL, and is an already-established one for mobile phone chargers. iWatt’s traditional market, low-power (3 – 5W) AC-DC ICs for mobile phone chargers and high-power (up to 40W) ICs for network adapters, accounted for 90 percent of its sales in 2009.

With iWatt’s recent diversification to include AC-DC LED driver ICs for dimmable LEDs (November 2009), the company is positioned to tap into growing conservation initiatives worldwide to replace existing incandescent bulbs with more energy-efficient LEDs. More than 100 lighting companies use iWatt’s new LED driver ICs. iWatt estimates that its traditional market will account for about 70 percent of its sales in 2010, with new growth markets such as LED lighting and LCD televisions making up the other 30 percent.

Commenting on the company’s investment in China, iWatt’s president and CEO, Ron Edgerton, said: “We want our customers to tell others that iWatt provides the world’s best technical support. That means supporting customers where they are. With design work for high growth markets such as LED lighting happening in Asia, that’s where we need to be.”

iWatt’s patented Adaptive Digital Control technology uses digital algorithms to replace traditional analog control solutions. This technology delivers size, cost and efficiency improvements, and lowers standby power to previously unattainable levels. It helps manufacturers reduce the costs of their devices and the amount of energy they consume.

“We have been working with iWatt for more than three years, using their innovative digital control technology and have been very successful in expanding our business,” said Ha, president and CEO of electrical equipment manufacturer Haem Co. Ltd, based in Korea. “In 2010, we designed the iWatt iW1696 IC into our new small size travel adaptor and this will enable us to provide a higher quality, best-in-class performance product for our end customers.”