As electrification of automobiles and mobility, adoption of autonomous driving systems, and increased installation of entertainment and other electrical equipment, power management in automobiles is becoming more important, and the automotive SiC compound semiconductor market is expected to grow explosively.

At the CES 2022 (Consumer Electronic Show) held in Las Vegas, USA from January 5th to 8th, the future of global automobiles, including autonomous driving and electrification, was highlighted.

The automotive section of this year's exhibition focused on the proliferation of sustainable and connected mobility.

For autonomous driving and connectivity between mobility, it is essential to install numerous sensors and control devices in automobiles, so efficient power management in vehicles is necessary.

In addition, the spread of mobility based on autonomous driving technology is based on electrification, so while expanding the capacity of automobile batteries is important, power semiconductors and system configurations that efficiently use battery power and minimize power consumption are acting as key factors in electrification.

Fuel efficiency improvement technology was also discussed at CES 2022, and Mercedes-Benz unveiled the VISION EQXX, demonstrating the best energy efficiency with an excellent energy consumption of less than 10kWh per 100km and a range of over 1,000km on a single charge.

VISION EQXX is a semiconductor or electronic device that increases driving range by reducing power consumption in high-voltage systems. It directly demonstrated the importance of vehicle power management through system configuration.




■ Electricity and autonomous driving spread, power management is important

In particular, as electrification and autonomous driving progress further, battery power management within the vehicle and power management between various systems have become more important.

In order to process and transmit the vast amount of data produced by a single car, it is becoming essential to install computers in the car, and the importance of power management in the car has increased even more with the installation of various sensors such as cameras, radars, and lidars, as well as the installation of various entertainment devices and a communication environment that occurs thousands of times per second.

Here it isThe adoption of SiC semiconductors is increasing for power management of batteries and other systems in automobiles.

It is expected that the compound semiconductor market using SiC and GaN materials will begin to grow in earnest from 2022.

Compound semiconductors have a band gap that is three times wider than that of conventional Si semiconductors, and can withstand more than ten times the high voltage in the same area.

It is used in leading power semiconductors, and by utilizing compound semiconductor technology, the size of the power semiconductor becomes smaller and the power value that can be processed increases.

Ultimately, it can increase the power efficiency of cars and equipment, which can not only improve driving range but also lead to significant CO2 reductions.

Compound semiconductors are used in onboard charging, electric vehicles, inverters, solar power generation, and 5G base stations.




■ Explosive growth of automotive SiC semiconductor market, astronomical investment by related companies

Meanwhile, the use of compound semiconductors centered on SiC semiconductors is rapidly increasing in the electric vehicle market.

The market opened up in earnest in 2018 when Tesla became the first in the automobile industry to install STMicroelectronics' SiC power semiconductors in its 'Model 3'.It was done.

Recently, it has been reported that Hyundai Motor Company is designing SiC power semiconductors directly and ordering them from foundries.

SK is also increasing its investment in SiC wafers, considering them a future growth engine.

As such, investment in SiC semiconductors is increasing significantly worldwide, and according to the industry, the adoption rate of SiC semiconductors in electric vehicles, currently at around 30%, is expected to increase to over 60% by 2025.




According to NH Investment & Securities, the SiC wafer market is expected to continue to grow at an average annual growth rate of more than 30% for the next five years.

Currently, the SiC wafer market is monopolized by Wolfspeed, Rhom, and II-VI, with Wolfspeed accounting for 62% of the market. Wolfspeed is known to be planning to increase its production capacity by more than 30 times by 2024 compared to 2017. Wolfspeed is also reported to be making good progress in the development of 8-inch SiC wafers.

STMicroelectronics, which also manufactures SiC chipsets, is known to have set a target of $1 billion in sales by 2025, up from $200 million in sales in 2019, and is acquiring SiC wafer manufacturer Norstel for $140 million.It has been acquired by Russia and is known to be planning to increase SiC capacity by tenfold and expand from the current 6-inch center to 8 inches.

In the case of Infineon, SiC power semiconductors are also being adopted in Hyundai Motor Company’s E-GMP, and it is known that the company started producing 12-inch wafer-based SiC semiconductors at its new Palach fab in Austria last year. 1.6 billion euros were invested in the new Palach fab. In the case of Infineon, both automotive semiconductor sales and profitability are showing an upward trend, and it is reported that the operating profit ratio for automotive semiconductors has improved from the past 5% to 16%.

Driven by this trend, TrendForce's December survey last year projected that the global automotive market's demand for 6-inch SiC wafers would reach 1.69 million units in 2025, driven by the increasing penetration of electric vehicles and the high-end trend, and that the introduction of the 800V EV charging architecture would completely replace Si IGBT modules with SiC power devices.