Since 2024, the SiC industry has continued its hot trend in 2023, and companies have been busy around technology research and development, signing cooperation, investment and financing, IPO, capacity construction, etc., and major manufacturers have frequently reported good news.
Since 2024, more than 30 projects have disclosed new progress, or signed, started, capped, or put into production, and each project is actively being promoted, continuously injecting new impetus into the development of the SiC industry.
Among these dozens of projects, there is no lack of large-scale investment of tens of billions, which demonstrates the confidence of relevant enterprises in the development of themselves and the entire SiC industry.
01
New projects occupy half of the country
Driven by the market demand for new energy vehicles and optical storage and charging, the use of SiC power devices continues to rise, and the future is bright. According to TrendForce, the global SiC Power Device market is expected to rise to US$3.04 billion in 2023 and US$9.17 billion by 2028, with a CAGR of 25%.
Although the market size of SiC power devices will continue to grow, it is still in short supply, and the expansion of production is logical. Since 2024, according to incomplete statistics from TrendForce, more than a dozen SiC-related projects have been signed or publicly announced for EIAs, and these projects are all in preparation for the start of construction.
From the perspective of investment scale, the total investment of SiC half-bridge module manufacturing project in Jiaxing National High-tech Zone, SiC epitaxy project of Saida Semiconductor, R&D and manufacturing project of third-generation semiconductor equipment of Liancheng CNC, SiC project of Mokeda, and third-generation semiconductor substrate epitaxy construction project of Jiangxi Gangfeng is more than 1 billion yuan (inclusive). Among them, Mokoda SiC project will invest more than 5 billion yuan, becoming a leader in terms of scale.
Source: Hanhai Jiaxing International Innovation Center
From the perspective of production capacity, the SiC half-bridge module manufacturing project of Jiaxing National High-tech Zone plans to build an annual output of 900,000 sets of SiC half-bridge module manufacturing production lines and related facilities, the planned production capacity of Saida Semiconductor's SiC epitaxial project in 2027 is 300,000 pieces/year, the 6-inch low-density defective SiC epitaxial wafer industrialization project of Puxing Electronics will achieve an annual output of 240,000 SiC epitaxial wafers, and the expansion SiC project of Tony Electronics will produce 200,000 SiC substrates per year. Jiangxi Gangfeng's third-generation semiconductor substrate epitaxy construction project (phase I) will produce 400,000 pieces of SiC substrates per year, and these projects have become leaders in terms of production capacity.
From the content point of view, these new projects cover most of the links of the SiC industry chain, and some of the new projects focus on the substrate/epitaxy link, which is the key link in the production of SiC power devices, and it is also the part that can quickly and effectively reduce costs and increase efficiency, including the Tianrui semiconductor project, Baihao New Materials large-size SiC single crystal substrate industrialization project, etc.
Among them, the Tianrui Semiconductor project will build a new 8-inch SiC and GaN wafer factory, and lay out the whole industrial chain of third-generation semiconductor substrate epitaxy, wafer manufacturing, device design, system application and related equipment production through industrial mergers and acquisitions and new projects.
Some of the new projects are dedicated to the production of SiC power devices/modules, including Zhendrive Semiconductor SiC power module project, Yangjie Technology SiC module packaging project, Aisi Technology automotive-grade SiC module packaging product project, etc. Among them, Yangjie Technology is one of the few domestic manufacturers that integrates the vertical integration (IDM) of the industrial chain such as semiconductor discrete device chip design and manufacturing, device packaging and testing, terminal sales and service.
Among these new projects, the third-generation semiconductor equipment R&D and manufacturing project of Liancheng CNC is a rare SiC equipment-related project. The project plans to invest no more than 1.05 billion yuan to plan and build a R&D and manufacturing base for SiC crystal growth and processing equipment.
source: Liancheng CNC
In terms of SiC equipment, Liancheng CNC began to research and develop SiC crystal growth furnaces at the end of 2020, and began to develop multi-wire cutting machines for superhard materials such as SiC in September 2021. In the first half of 2023, Liancheng CNC has achieved a number of technical research and development achievements, such as the innovative launch of the "one-key crystal pulling" system for single crystal furnace equipment, the successful launch of the liquid phase SiC crystal growth furnace and the acquisition of several customer orders, and the scientific research achievements of the SiC vertical induction synthesis furnace have passed the appraisal of the expert group.
02
Giants gathered, and project construction was in full swing
Since 2024, the number of projects that have started and are under active construction is also numerous and distinctive. Among them, the SiC components project for high-precision and high-purity semiconductor equipment in Nantong Phase II of Sanzhi New Materials started on March 15, and the Wuhan Xincheng compound semiconductor incubation acceleration and manufacturing base project, which is a major supporting project of Jiufengshan Laboratory, started on May 6.
source: Sanzhi New Materials
At the same time, Jiangsu Chengsheng Technology - Qisi high-power device project, Hunan San'an semiconductor base project phase II, Chongqing San'an semiconductor SiC substrate project, Tianyu semiconductor headquarters, manufacturing center and R&D center construction project, Tianke Heda SiC project phase II, Wolfspeed's 8-inch SiC manufacturing center and other projects have made new progress.
Among them, the second phase of the Hunan San'an Semiconductor Base project has entered the late stage of plant decoration in January this year, with a total investment of 8 billion yuan, and the annual production capacity of 500,000 pieces of 6-inch SiC substrates will be achieved after full production; At the beginning of February, Building B1 of Chongqing San'an Semiconductor SiC Substrate Project was capped, with a planned total investment of 7 billion yuan and a planned annual production capacity of 480,000 pieces of 8-inch SiC substrate; As one of the few international manufacturer projects that has made new progress this year, Wolfspeed's $5 billion 8-inch SiC manufacturing center was topped out on March 26.
Most of these projects are actively promoted, focusing on SiC materials and devices. In terms of materials, the construction project of Tianyu Semiconductor's headquarters, manufacturing center and R&D center has invested 8 billion yuan, which will be used to produce 6-inch/8-inch SiC epitaxial wafers with a total production capacity of 1.5 million pieces per year, and the first phase is expected to start production in April this year. Based on this project, Tianyu Semiconductor is expected to become one of the earliest enterprises in China to achieve 8-inch mass production.
In terms of devices, the Wuhan base project of YOFC is expected to be capped in June this year and put into production in July next year. The total investment of the project is expected to be 20 billion yuan, with a total investment of 10 billion yuan in the first phase, with an annual output of 360,000 SiC MOSFET wafers, including epitaxy, device design, wafer manufacturing, packaging, etc.
In 2024, Jiangsu Chengsheng Technology - Qisi high-power device project, Jiaxing Star SiC chip R&D and industrialization project, Tianyu Semiconductor headquarters, manufacturing center and R&D center construction project, Tianke Heda SiC project Phase II are expected to be completed and put into operation, injecting new impetus into the development of SiC materials and devices.
03
The production capacity is considerable, and a number of projects have entered the eve of mass production
After the intense construction in 2023, some projects will usher in the highlight moment of acceptance or production in 2024, including the re-investment in Tianke's third-generation semiconductor SiC material production base, Tongguang SiC substrate and powder project, Sco's automotive-grade SiC chip module project, and the second phase of Zhixin Technology's SiC module project.
Among them, the third-generation semiconductor SiC material production base of Tianke was officially opened on February 27. With a total investment of 3.27 billion yuan, the project focuses on the layout of 6-inch SiC single crystal substrate and epitaxial production lines, and is expected to have a substrate and epitaxial production capacity of 250,000 pieces this year.
In March this year, the SiC substrate project and powder project of Tongguang Co., Ltd. successfully passed the acceptance. The project started planning in 2017 and lasted seven years, and the acceptance was successfully completed in March 2024, which means that the project is fully put into production without barriers.
At the same time, the Sco's automotive-grade SiC chip module project is in the trial production stage, and after the project reaches production, it will form an annual production capacity of 2.4 million sets of SiC half-bridge modules. Under the trend of accelerating the launch of SiC products, this project is expected to become a new engine for the performance growth of Scoco Semiconductor.
04
summary
The shortage of SiC materials is one of the main factors restricting the development of the SiC market in the past few years, and SiC-related manufacturers at home and abroad have started a surging wave of expansion and continued until 2024.
Behind the large-scale capacity expansion, there are also risks of falling prices and overcapacity, and manufacturers who are expanding or plan to expand production must pay attention to the relevant potential risks and actively adjust their responses. In this case, after the market supply of SiC substrate epitaxial materials tends to stabilize, relevant manufacturers will shift more attention to devices, equipment and end applications, which will be a wiser choice to a certain extent, which is more conducive to enhancing competitiveness.
Since 2024, Jingneng Microelectronics, Zhendrive Semiconductor, Yangjie Technology, Mokeda, and Aisi Technology have newly signed SiC power device/module projects, and Liancheng CNC has newly signed SiC equipment projects, all of which are expected to take a share of the corresponding segmentation track.
At present, the automotive scenario is still the largest application market for SiC, and around the automotive-grade SiC products, Yangjie Technology, Tyco Tianrun, Scoco Semiconductor, Zhixin Technology, Chongqing San'an and other enterprises have made positive progress in related projects, which is expected to accelerate the process of domestic substitution of automotive-grade SiC products.
Among the projects that have made new progress in 2024, some of them are expansions on the basis of existing projects, and some project entities are planning SiC-related projects for the first time in 2024, demonstrating that the SiC industry is a hot land for investment and business, and there is a high probability that more manufacturers will invest in projects in the future, and more projects will be implemented.
On the whole, the SiC industry is currently a fast-growing market, major manufacturers are aware of the importance of scale, around the SiC industry chain to open a grand capital increase and expansion plan, it is foreseeable that in the future, with the continuous expansion of the market scale, the competition in the SiC industry will become increasingly fierce.
Source: TrendForce Compound Semiconductors
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