Abstract:From 2015 to 2022, the market size of China's automotive-grade IGBT industry has shown a rapid growth trend. During this period, the market size grew from 592 million yuan to nearly 7.724 billion yuan, an increase of more than ten times. Both the EV and hybrid automotive-grade IGBT markets have seen significant growth. The market size of pure electric vehicle specification IGBT has increased from 444 million yuan in 2015 to nearly 6.43 billion yuan in 2022, an increase of more than ten times. The market size of hybrid vehicle-grade IGBTs has also increased from 148 million yuan in 2015 to nearly 1.294 billion yuan in 2022, an increase of nearly nine times. This shows that the vigorous development of the pure electric vehicle market is one of the main factors driving the rapid growth of the automotive-grade IGBT market.
1. Definitions and Classification
IGBTs – the "CPUs" in the power electronics industry. IGBT is the abbreviation of insulated gate bipolar transistor, which is internationally recognized as the most representative product of the third revolution in power electronics technology. As the core component in the field of industrial control and automation, IGBT is widely used in many fields such as motor energy saving, rail transit, smart grid, aerospace, household appliances, automotive electronics, new energy power generation, new energy vehicles, etc. It can adjust the voltage, current, frequency, phase, etc. in the circuit according to the signal command to achieve the purpose of precise control.
Automotive-grade IGBT refers to IGBT products used in new energy vehicles.
IGBTs (Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistors) are power semiconductor devices that are commonly used in power electronics applications. Automotive-grade IGBT refers to IGBT products suitable for the field of automotive electronics. According to the degree of integration, it can be divided into single-module IGBT and multi-module IGBT, according to the rated voltage, it can be divided into mortgage vehicle trajectory IGBT and high-voltage vehicle-grade IGBT, according to the maximum working temperature, it can be divided into low-temperature vehicle-grade IGBT, high-temperature vehicle-grade IGBT, according to the maximum current, it can be divided into low-current vehicle-grade IGBT, high-current vehicle-grade IGBT, etc.
Second, the development process
The development process of China's automotive-grade IGBT industry can be divided into five stages, the first stage is the initial stage in the 1980s, when China began to introduce IGBT technology and conduct basic research; the second stage is the independent research and development stage in the 1990s, when China began to carry out independent research and development in IGBT technology, domestic enterprises gradually mastered the core technology of IGBT, and began to produce automotive-grade IGBT products; the third stage is the mature stage of technology in the 2000s, when domestic enterprises began to expand their production scale and improve product quality and stability; the fourth stage is the rise stage in the 2010s, when domestic enterprises continue to innovate and launch a variety of excellent performanceThe fifth stage is the leading position in the 2020s, and the product performance, reliability and power density continue to improve to meet the diversified needs of automotive electronics.
3. Industry policy
In recent years, in order to promote the healthy and rapid development of the power semiconductor industry, especially the IGBT industry, the relevant departments of the state have not only formulated a series of relevant policies and measures, but also continuously increased support. Among them, IGBT has been classified as a 02 special key support project, which has been implemented for 15 years and successfully concluded in 2021. At the same time, the localization of IGBT is also one of the key development priorities of semiconductor devices in the national 14th Five-Year Plan. The double stimulation from the continuous growth of market demand and a large amount of investment by the state has not only attracted a group of overseas Chinese with rich IGBT experience to return to China, but also provided an opportunity for enterprises including Star Semiconductor, BYD, CRRC Times Electric, etc., to master the core technology of IGBT, further promote the process of IGBT localization, and get rid of the status quo of import dependence on IGBT products as soon as possible.
Fourth, industry barriers
1. Technical barriers
The automotive-grade IGBT industry is a technology-intensive industry, and its product R&D, design, and manufacturing involve semiconductor technology, power technology, microelectronics technology, etc. The production of products requires a comprehensive grasp of diffusion, chip manufacturing, packaging, testing and other technologies, and must have strong overall technical strength, complete quality system, complete process equipment and testing methods, and its process design and process control requirements are very high. In addition, there are many non-standard equipment in the industry, which need to be specially customized, self-made, or professionally transformed to standard equipment, and most of its process methods are not universal, which is very difficult to master.
2. Talent barriers
The continuous expansion of the production scale of automotive-grade IGBT enterprises and the continuous improvement of customers' demand for the economic benefits of automotive-grade IGBTs have prompted enterprises to continuously enhance their research and development efforts for new products and technologies to enhance their market competitiveness. Due to the strong comprehensiveness of the automotive-grade IGBT industry, professionals not only need to have a certain technical level and R&D capabilities, but also have rich practical experience to provide technical guidance and training to downstream customers. At present, there is a shortage of professionals with the above backgrounds in China, which will form a certain obstacle for new entrants.
3. Brand barriers
With the continuous development of the automotive-grade IGBT industry, the industry competition has also shifted from the original single price competition model to the brand competition model with quality and service as the core. For new entrants in the industry, it takes a long time from the creation of a brand to the recognition of the brand. Therefore, the automotive-grade IGBT industry has brand barriers.
Fifth, the industrial chain
The upstream of the automotive-grade IGBT industry is semiconductor equipment, packaging materials, EDA software, etc. The development of the upstream industry is crucial, which directly affects the quantity and quality of raw materials supplied to the automotive-grade IGBT industry. The downstream of the industry is oriented to new energy vehicles, and the downstream sales are not only the circulation end of the midstream vehicle-grade IGBT industry products, but also the role of the brand influence of the industry enterprises.
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