Wolfspeed invests $5 billion to increase SiC wafer production tenfold.

Wolfspeed announced on the 9th that it will invest $2 billion to build a new SiC manufacturing facility in Chatham County, North Carolina, strategically located near its existing Durham facility.

The new SiC fab is expected to produce 200mm SiC wafers, which are 1.7 times larger than existing 150mm wafers, thereby increasing SiC semiconductor production per wafer and reducing costs.

The new 200mm wafers will be supplied to the company's Mohawk Valley fab, which opened earlier this year.

The facility is targeted for completion in 2024.

Including this investment, Wolfspeed plans to make a total investment of up to $5 billion, and additional investments are expected after 2024. Once the full investment is made, it is expected that production will be more than ten times the current level.

Wolfspeed CEO Gregg Lowe said, “We expect SiC wafers to be in short supply compared to demand for the next five years, and the main demand source is inverters for electric vehicles.”

Meanwhile, SiC wafers are substrates used to manufacture compound semiconductors and are more than three times wider than conventional silicon semiconductors, and can withstand more than 10 times the high voltage in the same area.

It is mainly used in power semiconductors, such as onboard chargers, electric vehicle inverters, and solar power generators.

Wolfspeed was the first to introduce SiC MOSFETs in 2011 and has since led the transition from conventional IGBT solutions to silicon carbide solutions in the electric vehicle sector.