Mitsubishi Electric collaborates with Coherent to expand 8-inch SiC
59 2023-05-30
On May 26th, Mitsubishi Electric announced on its official website that it had reached a partnership with Coherent (formerly II-VI) to jointly expand the production scale of 8-inch SiC devices. In the future, Coherent will supply 8-inch n-type 4H SiC substrates for SiC power devices produced by Mitsubishi Electric at its new factory to meet the demand for SiC in new energy vehicles.http://www.ic-bom.com/
With the increasing demand for new energy vehicles, the investment and expansion enthusiasm in the current SiC market is unprecedentedly high. On the one hand, Mitsubishi Electric has engaged in deep cooperation with upstream and downstream industries. Previously, Mitsubishi Electric had deep cooperation with Coherent in the 6-inch field. This time, it is expanding this cooperation to 8-inch to seize market opportunities.
On the other hand, Mitsubishi Electric is accelerating its expansion of its own production capacity. It announced earlier this year that it will invest 100 billion yen to expand a new factory in the existing factory area of Kikuchi City, Kumamoto Prefecture. The factory will introduce an 8-inch SiC wafer production line and is expected to start production in April 2026. In addition, Mitsubishi Electric will expand the production capacity of its 6-inch SiC factory located in Hezhi City, Kumamoto Prefecture. According to Japanese media reports, Mitsubishi Electric‘s overall production expansion plan is to expand its production capacity to five times the level of 2022 by 2026. During the five-year period from 2021 to 2025, the total investment in power device equipment will reach 260 billion yen.
Similar to Mitsubishi Electric, Coherent previously announced an investment of $100 million in SiC production expansion, accelerating the investment layout in the manufacturing of 6-inch and 8-inch SiC substrates and epitaxial wafers. In the medium to long term, Coherent plans to increase the production of SiC substrates by six times, with an annual production of 1 million pieces (equivalent to 6 inches) by 2027.http://www.ic-bom.com/
According to the analysis and statistics of the Compound Semiconductor Research Office under TrendForce Consulting, with the clarification of cooperation projects between major manufacturers and automotive and energy industries, it will drive the overall SiC power component market output value to reach 2.28 billion US dollars in 2023, with an annual growth of 41.4%. In addition, TrendForce Consulting expects the SiC power component market output to reach $5.33 billion by 2026.
In terms of Infineon, it signed a supply agreement with Resonac (formerly Showa Electric) in January of this year, which will supply silicon carbide materials to Infineon. Although the two companies did not disclose the amount or quantity of materials involved in this agreement, Resonac stated that the silicon carbide semiconductors produced by the materials it supplies account for Infineon‘s double-digit share of demand for the next decade.
In addition, Infineon has also signed long-term supply agreements with two Chinese companies, Tianke Heda and Shandong Tianyue. According to the agreements, Tianke Heda and Tianyue Advanced will supply Infineon with 6-inch (150mm) silicon carbide wafers and ingots for the production of SiC semiconductors. Both companies‘ supply will account for a double-digit share of Infineon‘s future long-term forecast demand. In the future, 200mm diameter silicon carbide materials will also be provided to assist Infineon in its transition to 200mm diameter wafers.http://www.ic-bom.com/