Export demand is critical to China's electricity meters

The export market is becoming a key factor in promoting the growth of the Chinese electric meter industry. Overseas shipments this year are expected to reach 30.8 million.

China's smart meters have been exported to more than 132 countries and regions in the world, and the growth momentum has not diminished. It is estimated that the export of electricity meters will increase to 47.2 million in 2016, compared with 26.5 million in 2012.

Although the export volume is dwarfed by the huge domestic electricity meter market, the compound annual growth rate of the export market in the coming years will be 15.5%, which is much higher than the domestic market. It is estimated that domestic electricity meter shipments in 2016 will increase from 84 million in 2012 to 95.8 million.

Stare at the government

In recent years, the government has stepped up its awareness of the purchase and installation of electricity meters, and domestic demand has grown rapidly. In 2012, the State Grid Corporation of China's tender results showed that about 78 million meters were purchased during the year, in addition to 16 million meter sets/readers and 600,000 data collection terminals.

The bidding procurement target in 2013 is expected to be similar to that of previous years, but the allocation of funds between urban power grid and rural power grid will be greatly adjusted. A trend that is worth watching for the procurement of government electricity meters this year is the downward trend in purchasing prices. IHS Company expects that the new price regulations may directly lead to pressure on the entire meter supply chain and may even affect the quality and service life of the final product.

New standard, smart meter chip industry reshuffle

In order to strengthen the management and control of smart meter quality, a number of new technical standards are expected to be implemented in the third quarter. By then, all meter manufacturers must adopt new practices. However, in order to prevent the market from possible turbulent, more stringent requirements only involve the sample delivery procedure.

But as previously anticipated, in response to these changes, the entire smart meter semiconductor market is reshuffled. Even before these new standards were issued, almost all smart meter semiconductor manufacturers had adjusted their product strategies to prepare for the new standards.

Due to these factors, the market has undergone significant changes. For example, as of the end of last year, the market share of smart meter microcontroller (MCU) suppliers has changed in many ways compared to the first half of the year.

At the same time, the suppliers of the two big two-hearted metering integrated circuits (ICs) further consolidated their respective markets, and the competitive landscape of the power line communication (PLC) chip market also changed.