A series of new technology standards aimed at improving the quality management and control of smart meters will come into effect in August, which will help China's smart meter market grow by 9% this year, and shipments are expected to exceed the 100 million mark for the first time. 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.

According to market reports, in the face of these changes, the entire smart meter semiconductor market is being 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. By the end of 2013, 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.

According to statistics, in 2012 China's total electricity meter shipments were 110.10 million, of which 98.5 million were smart meters. In 2014, China's electricity meter output is expected to grow to 118.4 million, of which 107.7 million will be smart meters. In the next few years, China's smart meter market will continue to grow, with an average compound annual growth rate of 9.5%. As the replacement speed increases, the output of ordinary meters will decline rapidly and will nearly die by 2016.