Author:
Kevin Parmenter, Pins Out Engineering, for TSC America, Inc.
Date
02/19/2026
PDF
Kevin Parmenter, Pins Out Engineering, for TSC America, Inc.
The total revenue of the power supply market, valued at $37.24 billion in 2024, is expected to grow at a CAGR of 4.73% from 2025 to 2032, reaching nearly $ 53.90 billion, according to Maximize Market Research’s latest forecast.
The merchant power supply market, comprising standalone power conversion products sold across multiple end markets, is at an inflection point. Although the drivers of traditional market demand — industrial automation and medical commercial electronics — remain strong, other factors are reshaping the competitive and strategic landscape. These include evolving technologies, supply chain shifts, tariffs, SCR (Supply Chain Resiliency) issues, geopolitical tensions, and changing customer expectations, which are reshaping the competitive and strategic landscape.
At its core, the power supply market is responding to the dual forces of performance scaling and cost optimization. Applications must deliver higher efficiency and better thermal performance and comply with increasingly stringent global regulatory standards and efficiency mandates. These pressures are driving M&A activities and innovation in topologies, magnetic materials and designs, and wide bandgap technologies like GaN (gallium nitride) and SiC (silicon carbide) semiconductors.
The custom power supply industry, which was decimated by the popularity of the modular configurable power supply business, is now embraced by multiple suppliers. Mil-aero, high-voltage, high-volume applications and other specialized applications still use custom supplies, but the “make-vs.-buy” scale keeps moving towards “buy-vs.-make,” with more value than ever available in the merchant supply marketplace. Meanwhile, pricing pressure remains intense — regardless of the market segment — especially in low-power segments where commoditization has reduced margins and increased regulatory compliance and warranty demands.
Moreover, regional incentives for reshoring have prompted manufacturers and OEMs to diversify their supplier base or bring more design and manufacturing onsite or to trusted regions. This has created opportunities for nimble, non-captive merchant suppliers who can offer design flexibility, IP ownership, and shorter lead times. The explosion of supply chain data transparency has empowered end users to demand not only product performance but also predictable delivery and support.
Merchant suppliers with robust patent portfolios of innovative core technologies, including EMI suppression, adaptive control methods, magnetics, WBG incorporation and thermal management, are better positioned to command value pricing and fend off competitive encroachment. Those who fail to invest in digital tooling, inventory management and customer service risk losing market share to more responsive competitors. Due to market pressures and competition, only the strong survive in today’s merchant power supply marketplace.
