In the global automotive electrification boom, silicon carbide has become the hot spot pursued by the market. As an important member of the third generation semiconductor materials, silicon carbide is also known as the "little red man" in the semiconductor industry.
The market growth of silicon carbide is mainly driven by the fields of electric vehicles, radio frequency, industry and energy. Under the background driven by the trend of electric vehicles, silicon carbide enterprises may continue to benefit. On November 4, Infineon, a large power semiconductor factory, brought the latest news.
Revenue will keep growing in FY23
The financial report shows that in the fourth fiscal quarter as of September 30, Infineon's revenue was 4.143 billion euros, compared with 3.007 billion euros in the same period of the previous fiscal year, a year-on-year increase of 38%; Last fiscal quarter was 3.618 billion euros, up 15% month on month.
The company's profit was 735 million euros, compared with 464 million euros in the same period of the previous fiscal year, up 58% year on year; Last fiscal quarter was 517 million euros, up 42% month on month.
Infineon expects a revenue of 4 billion euros in the next quarter, and the market expects 3.71 billion euros. As expected, the company's revenue in the next fiscal quarter will continue to grow year-on-year, with a revenue of 3.159 billion euros in the first fiscal quarter of fiscal year 2022.
Infineon's revenue in fiscal year 2022 is 14.218 billion euros, up 29% year on year. Looking forward to the 2023 fiscal year, Infineon is expected to have a revenue of 15.5 billion euros, up or down 500 million euros, and is expected to maintain growth.
In addition, in order to meet the capacity demand, Infineon will spend 5 billion euros to build a 300 mm analog/mixed signal and power semiconductor factory in Germany. However, Infineon said that it still needs to obtain sufficient public funds for this plan.
Silicon carbide enterprises frequently act
Compared with traditional power technology, silicon carbide increases the range, efficiency and performance of electric vehicles. Its applications mainly involve smart grid, rail transit, electric vehicles, communication power supply and other fields. Its advantages of high pressure resistance, high temperature resistance and low loss make silicon carbide play an important role in the global automotive electrification.
According to TrendForce Jibang Consulting's 2022 Third Generation Semiconductor Power Application Market Analysis Report, as more and more vehicle enterprises begin to introduce SiC technology into the electric drive system, it is estimated that the market size of SiC power components for vehicles will reach 1.07 billion dollars in 2022, and will climb to 3.94 billion dollars by 2026.
It can be seen that the SiC market will be prosperous in the future, and the competition for SiC for vehicles will continue to exist. In this process, the events of strong alliance will occur frequently.
Infineon Hand in Hand with Stellantis
On November 14, Infineon announced that it had signed a memorandum of understanding with the global automobile manufacturer Stellantis. According to the agreement, Infineon will reserve capacity in 2025-2030 to directly provide silicon carbide power semiconductors to Stellantis suppliers.
The agreement may involve chips worth more than 1 billion euros (US $1.03 billion), which will be used in Stellantis' electric vehicles.
Infineon is preparing for the accelerated demand of the industry through a large amount of investment. In 2024, Infineon's new SiC technology wafer factory will start production in Curin, Malaysia. The factory will supplement the existing manufacturing capacity of Feilach, Austria, according to Infineon's multi base strategy.
Qorvo and SK Siltron CSS
In November last year, Qorvo, the leading enterprise of RF solutions in the United States, entered the SiC track by acquiring the SiC semiconductor supplier UnitedSiC.
Although he is a novice in the industry, Qorvo, based on the technical foundation of UnitedSiC, has introduced power solutions integrating intelligent motor controller and efficient SiC FET, power solutions integrating intelligent motor controller and efficient SiC FET, etc. this year.
At the beginning of this month, Qorvo announced that it had finalized a multi-year supply agreement for SiC substrates and epitaxial wafers with SK Siltron CSS, an American subsidiary of SK Siltron.
With regard to the signing of this agreement, Qorvo said that it would improve the flexibility of the domestic semiconductor supply chain in the United States and further meet the growing demand of the application market for SiC, especially the automobile market.
Jaguar Land Rover deep bound Wolfspeed
At the end of October, Jaguar Land Rover and Wolfspeed, the third-generation semiconductor leader, announced that they had reached a strategic cooperation agreement. Wolfspeed will supply SiC devices to Jaguar Land Rover's next-generation electric vehicles to help improve their traditional power efficiency and extend driving mileage.
According to the agreement, Wolfspeed's SiC devices will be used in the inverters of Jaguar Land Rover electric vehicles. The first Range Rover models equipped with SiC inverters will be launched in 2024, and the new all electric Jaguar brand will be launched after 2024.
In fact, Wolfspeed and Jaguar Land Rover began to cooperate as early as 2017. The electric transmission system independently developed by Jaguar TCS Formula E team uses Wolfspeed SiC devices, and the team also successfully won the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship at that time.
At present, Wolfspeed's SiC products have covered the full voltage range of 400-800V. SiC power devices will be produced in the largest 8-inch SiC manufacturer in the world, Masimohawk Valley, which just opened in April this year.
San'an Optoelectronics Signed 3.8 Billion Orders
On November 6, San'an Optoelectronics Co., Ltd. Hunan San'an signed the Strategic Procurement Intention Agreement with the demander. The latter is mainly engaged in new energy vehicle business, and promised to ensure the purchase of silicon carbide chips from Hunan San'an every year from 2024-2027. The amount of the agreement is expected to be 3.8 billion yuan (tax included). San'an Optoelectronics said that in the future, the development of San'an Optoelectronics will gradually incline to the semiconductor business, especially the silicon carbide field.
San'an Optoelectronics said that big orders are of course good for the company and will be shown in the financial data later. The company's silicon carbide chips are mainly produced and developed by Hunan San'an, involving the entire silicon carbide industry chain.
The signing of this agreement will help further improve the market share of the company's products, enhance the company's reputation, and lay a foundation for the long-term development of the company's silicon carbide business. At present, the company has advantages in the integrity and scale of the entire industry.