Geely's Jingneng Microelectronics wafer manufacturing and SiC module manufacturing projects started.
GAC CRRC joint venture IGBT project Qinglan Semiconductor was put into production.
Li Auto is currently setting up a team in Singapore to work on the research and development of SiC power chips.
In recent years, with the increase in demand for power semiconductors for new energy vehicles, various car companies are making efforts to power semiconductors.
For car companies, it is common to spend huge sums of money to lay out the car core industry chain. Especially in recent years, after experiencing the torture of "lack of core", car companies have spared no effort in their layout. Among them, automotive power semiconductors have become the focus of gravity.
The power semiconductor market is rising
Power semiconductors are the core components of power electronic equipment to achieve power conversion and circuit control, mainly used to convert and control electricity, and are used to change the voltage and frequency in electronic devices, DC and AC conversion, etc., involving the drive efficiency, charging speed and mileage of electric vehicles, and other aspects of performance, and are the core components of the three-electric system of electric vehicles.
At present, the "new four modernizations" of automobiles are advancing rapidly, and the demand for automotive-grade power devices is gradually moving closer to high-power devices such as IGBTs and SiC MOSFETs, which also promotes the demand for various DC-DC modules, motor control systems, battery management systems, high-voltage circuits and other components to rise sharply, and the demand for power semiconductors is rising.
Simplified schematic diagram of the powertrain of a new energy vehicle.
Source: amoker).
According to Strategy Analytics statistics, compared with traditional fuel vehicles, the use of power semiconductors in pure electric vehicles has increased significantly, accounting for about 55% of the value. In 2022, the value of power semiconductors for new energy vehicles will reach 458$7, which is about 5 times that of a conventional fuel vehicle.
Among the many semiconductor products driven by new energy vehicles, the automotive power device market has become one of the tracks that benefit the most. Driven by the rise in volume and price, the market share of power semiconductors in the automotive field has increased year by year, accounting for 35% of the total, with an amount of about 16 billion US dollars.
Among them, benefiting from the favorable growth prospects of its downstream electric vehicles and new energy, UBS said that the revenue of Chinese power semiconductor companies in 2023-2025 may grow at a rate of two to three times that of the global market.
In addition to the sharp rise in market demand, the shortage crisis of automotive chips in the last round highlights the dependence of car companies on semiconductors. Among them, as the largest incremental product, power semiconductors are ushering in a stage of rapid development of "both volume and price".
Under the trend of its increasingly prominent importance, the focus of car companies has gradually tilted to the field of power semiconductors.
Car companies are flocking to it
Probably from 2020 to the present, the layout of power semiconductors by car companies has gradually become an increasingly powerful wave.
Based on the needs and resource selection methods of various chip R&D companies, it can be seen that the current entry mode of car companies is mainly divided into three types: self-development, joint venture joint R&D and strategic investment.
Self-developed by car companies
Looking at the development status of the industry, because the automotive-grade power semiconductor is a field with high technical barriers, the requirements for reliability and safety are extremely demanding, and the domestic development started late, and the automotive industry is relatively closed, for a long time, Infineon, onsemi, STMicroelectronics, Mitsubishi Electric and other European, American and Japanese manufacturers have occupied a dominant position in the market with years of technology accumulation and advanced manufacturing capabilities.
In this context, it also means that it is difficult for domestic car companies to realize the independent control of the core technology of power semiconductors at this stage, and it is a long "long march" road.
The investment of long-term and high R&D costs requires continuous blood transfusion of enterprises, and there are also uncertainties in the follow-up verification, volume and rate of return, so there are relatively few car companies that choose the self-developed power semiconductor model.
Here, BYD is the "forerunner".
BYD Semiconductor.
As early as 2005, BYD Semiconductor, a subsidiary of BYD, started the road of IGBT self-development.
Looking back on its development history, in 2007, BYD Semiconductor established an IGBT module production line, completed the development of the first automotive-grade IGBT chip in 2009, and released the benchmark IGBT 4 in the automotive-grade field at the end of 20180 technology, IGBT 2021 based on high-density trench FS 50 technology to achieve mass production.
BYD already has the ability to operate the IDM model of the whole industry chain. At present, in the field of IGBT modules, BYD Semiconductor has also stood in the leading position in China. IGBT modules have a market share of 19 percent, second only to Infineon.
In addition to IGBT, BYD Semiconductor also has a strong voice in the field of MCU chips. In addition, it has also realized the mass production of SiC devices, IPM, CMOS image sensors, electromagnetic sensors, LED light sources and displays.
Based on this, during the three-year epidemic period when the entire auto market was tormented by the "lack of cores", these competitive advantages helped BYD rise all the way against the wind, and the sales of new energy vehicles reached new highs.
Some industry insiders bluntly said that the key to BYD's success lies in its ability to operate the IDM model of the entire IGBT industry chain, and it has built a whole industry chain from chip design, wafer manufacturing, module design and vehicle application.
Not long ago, the first phase of BYD's semiconductor power device and sensor control device R&D and industrialization project in Shaoxing Binhai New Area was completed.
It is understood that the project has a total investment of 10 billion yuan, 417 acres of land, and the project has an annual output of 720,000 power device products and an annual output of 6 billion sets of optical and microelectronic product production lines, which can achieve an annual output value of 15 billion yuan after reaching production. The power devices and sensing control devices developed and produced by the first phase of the project are the core components of new energy vehicles.
Compared with its car sales all the way up, BYD Semiconductor's IPO road has been tortuous, with many IPOs"It is discontinued"。However, at the performance meeting in March this year, Wang Chuanfu, chairman of BYD, once again expressed his position"BYD Semiconductor's listing plan remains unchanged, but there are some adjustments in the process"。
In fact, going public to raise funds to invest in the construction of power semiconductors is one of BYD's plans. According to the previous plan, the listing of BYD Semiconductor will raise 268.6 billion yuan, of which 31.2 billion yuan will be used for the industrialization and upgrading of new power semiconductor chips, 207.4 billion yuan will be used for the R&D and industrialization of power semiconductors and intelligent control devices, and 300 million yuan will be used to supplement working capital.
In addition, in the face of the continuous growth of the new energy vehicle industry, the new wafer production capacity is still far from meeting the downstream demand. In order to improve the capacity supply capacity and independent controllability as soon as possible, BYD Semiconductor plans to seize the time window and carry out large-scale wafer capacity investment and construction. In order to expand wafer production capacity, BYD Semiconductor also invested about 4.9 billion yuan to implement the Jinan power semiconductor production capacity construction project during the review period. At present, the project has been completed and put into operation, and the production capacity has been ramped smoothly, with a full production capacity of 30,000 pieces per month, which is expected to have a great impact on BYD Semiconductor's future assets and business structure.
Geely-Jingneng Microelectronics.
Based on BYD's "model", other car companies have also begun to follow suit.
Geely has also incubated its own power semiconductor company, Jingneng Microelectronics, in June last year, focusing on chip design and module innovation in the field of new energy, with chip design, module manufacturing, and vehicle certification capabilities, and can develop automotive-grade IGBT chips and modules, SiC devices, medium and low voltage MOSFETs and other products.
In March this year, the first automotive-grade IGBT product independently designed and developed by Jingneng Microelectronics was successfully taped out, the IGBT chip adopts the seventh-generation micro-trench gate and field blocking technology, and achieves lower switching losses while optimizing the surface structure and FS structure, and the power density is increased by about 35%.
In June, the company also announced the completion of the second round of financing, emphasizing that it will solidly promote the design and development, module manufacturing and on-board application of power semiconductors according to the established goals. In September this year, Jingneng Microelectronics once again announced that the first SiC half-bridge module was successfully trial-produced.
Recently, Jiaxing ** network disclosed the information of external bidding for the Jingneng Microelectronics Technology Production Base project, and the project has entered the construction stage. It is reported that the project has a total investment of 5 billion yuan and will be constructed in two phases. Among them, the first phase of construction is a 6-inch wafer manufacturing project and an automotive SIC module manufacturing, production and R&D base. The main construction content of the 6-inch wafer manufacturing project is to invest in the construction of a 6-inch silicon-based wafer production line with a monthly output of 40,000 pieces and related supporting facilitiesThe main construction content of the SIC module manufacturing project is to invest in the construction of an annual output of 600,000 sets of SIC module manufacturing production lines and related supporting facilities. After the completion of the first phase of the project, Jingneng Micro will continue to expand production in the second phase of the project. The second phase will mainly invest in the construction of an annual output of 1.8 million sets of SiC plastic half-bridge module manufacturing production line and related supporting facilities, and continue to enrich the type of silicon carbide module products.
In addition to the Jiaxing project, Jingneng Micro has made a multi-point layout in terms of production capacity this year. On May 26, Jingneng Microelectronics signed a project cooperation agreement with Wenling Development Zone, planning to invest in the construction of an automotive-grade semiconductor packaging and testing base.
Great Wall Motor-Innosilicon Semiconductor.
In November last year, the third-generation semiconductor module packaging and testing project of Innosilicon Semiconductor set up by Great Wall also started construction in Wuxi in February this year, with an annual production capacity of 1.2 million sets of vehicle-grade modules, covering power semiconductor modules, discrete devices, etc., and is expected to have the equipment to fully enter the factory in September this year.
At present, Innosilicon Semiconductor has made a lot of progress in terms of products with automotive-grade power semiconductors as a starting point.
In June this year, Innosilicon Semiconductor's 750V 820A IGBT power module passed the automotive-grade AQG324 certificationIn July this year, 25 electric drive tests were completedIn August this year, the first batch of 750V 820A IGBT power modules of Innosilicon were successfully installed, and passed strict offline testing, and the first batch of products were successfully deliveredIn November this year, the 750V 820A IGBT power module of the GFM platform independently developed by Innosilicon was successfully installed, realizing the large-scale application in the main drive controller of new energy vehicles for the first time.
In terms of projects, at the beginning of this year, the third-generation semiconductor module packaging and testing project of Innosilicon was laid in WuxiIn August, the first batch of packaging and testing equipment in Wuxi manufacturing base successfully entered the factory, and the main body of the third-generation semiconductor module packaging and testing project of Innosilicon was cappedIn October this year, the production line was fully opened, using international leading production equipmentIt is expected to be officially put into mass production at the end of December.
On December 1, Innosilicon and Bosch Automotive Electronics signed a long-term order cooperation agreement in Shanghai.
It is revealed that this cooperation focuses on the SiC business and will further help the steady development of Innosilicon Semiconductor's SiC business. At the same time, it will also promote the formation of a more concentrated development pattern of Innosilicon Semiconductor and further promote the integration of the industrial chain.
Chery-Reddy's Microelectronics.
Chery Automobile also started the IGBT production chain as early as 4 years ago and established Reddy's Microelectronics Co., Ltd. to engage in the research and development, packaging and testing and sales of IGBT modules and silicon carbide MOS SBD chips.
It is reported that the total investment of the project is 800 million yuan, and the first phase of the investment is 300 million yuan, to build a highly automated and intelligent IGBT module packaging and testing production line, with an annual production capacity of 1.5 million new energy vehicle IGBT modules and an annual supporting 600,000 new energy vehiclesAfter the second phase of expansion, the annual production capacity will be able to support 2 million new energy vehicles.
At the same time, in the field of silicon carbide devices, Reddy's Microelectronics has carried out in-depth cooperation and joint development with Chery automotive platform and external drive solution partners last year, and has started the introduction and verification this year, and its silicon carbide module will first enter Chery Automobile's first chain, and then gradually carry out cooperation with other car factories and system manufacturers, and is currently ready to invest in the planning of silicon carbide module production line.
Car companies work together with chip factories for joint research and development
Although there are many advantages of self-development by car companies, the high technical barriers and heavy capital investment of this model are also stumbling blocks on the road to self-development of car companies. In this regard, it is also an excellent path for car companies to reach strategic cooperation with related companies or establish joint ventures to enter the game through joint research and development.
Under this model, the two sides combine their own resources and capabilities to achieve complementary advantages, so as to achieve the highest efficiency and product quality, which is particularly important in today's fierce competition on the automobile track. At the same time, the overall risk for car companies is relatively small, and it has become the choice of most car companies.
GAC & CRRC Times: Guangzhou Qinglan Semiconductor.
On December 5, Guangzhou Qinglan Semiconductor's IGBT project (phase I) was put into production.
Guangzhou Qinglan was jointly invested and established by GAC Parts and Zhuzhou CRRC Times Semiconductor in 2022, with a total planned investment of 46.3 billion yuan, mainly focusing on the field of independent IGBT of new energy vehicles to carry out technology research and development and industrial application. The planned production capacity of the first phase is 400,000 automotive IGBT modules per yearThe planned production capacity of the second phase is 400,000 automotive IGBT modules per year, and it is planned to be put into production in 2025. After the completion of the project, the total production capacity can be 800,000 per year.
In recent years, GAC Group has accelerated the transformation to the "New Four Modernizations" of automobiles, and is accelerating the improvement of its R&D and industrialization layout in the field of key components of new energy vehicles in the form of self-research + cooperation.
In addition, in the field of chips, it has united key enterprises in the field of chips and intelligent networking such as Yuexin Semiconductor, Horizon Robotics, and Chenjing Technology to help the independent and controllable chain and the upstream and downstream coordination of the industrial chain, and further enhance the comprehensive competitiveness of GAC Group in the field of new energy vehicles by building, supplementing and strengthening the chain.
Changan Deep Blue Automobile & Star Semiconductor: Chongqing Anda Semiconductor.
In June this year, Changan's brand Deep Blue Automobile and Star Semiconductor established a new joint venture company - "Chongqing Anda Semiconductor***, the two sides will cooperate around vehicle-grade power semiconductor modules to jointly promote the commercial application of next-generation power semiconductors in the field of new energy vehicles."
According to the plan, Deep Blue Automobile plans to launch a total of 6 products by 2025, and strive to achieve production and sales of more than 1 million units within five yearsStar Semiconductor is the main supplier of high-power automotive-grade power modules for new energy vehicles in China, and in 2022, Star-Semiconductor's automotive-grade modules will be equipped with more than 1.2 million new energy vehicles.
The cooperation between the two parties, on the one hand, will enhance the vertical integration ability of Shenlan Automobile's first-class chain and provide solid support for Shenlan Automobile to achieve the million-level strategic sales targetOn the other hand, it will also accelerate the complementary advantages of the two sides in "production, research, supply and demand", and work together to create high-quality products.
Li Auto & Sanan Semiconductor: Suzhou Scoco Semiconductor.
In March 2022, Li Auto's affiliated company Chehejia plans to establish a joint venture with Sanan Semiconductor, Suzhou Scoco Semiconductor, to lay out the automotive SiC chip and module market.
In August last year, Sco Semiconductor built the R&D and production base of Li Auto's power semiconductors, which is expected to gradually increase and eventually reach an annual production capacity of 2.4 million silicon carbide half-bridge power modules after it is officially put into production in 2024.
Recently, Li Auto disclosed in the recruitment information that the company has set up a power device R&D office in Singapore, and currently discloses a number of technical positions, including SiC power module failure analysis physical analysis experts, SiC power module process experts, SiC power module electrical design experts and SiC power module design experts.
This also means that Ideal is preparing for its self-developed silicon carbide power module, and may establish a power module packaging and testing production line in the future.
Great Wall Motors & Tongguang Semiconductor.
In December 2021, Great Wall Motor signed a strategic agreement with Tongguang Semiconductor, a third-generation semiconductor company, to focus on the application of the third-generation new wide bandgap semiconductor silicon carbide in the new energy vehicle industry and promote the industrialization of silicon carbide semiconductor materials and chips. It is reported that the key core technology areas of third-generation semiconductors such as large computing power chips and silicon carbide are one of the key development directions in Great Wall Motor's 2025 strategy.
Geely & Xinjuneng Semiconductor, Xinhe Technology: Xinyueneng Semiconductor.
In May 2021, Geely Weirui, a subsidiary of Geely Automobile, established a joint venture with Xinjuneng Semiconductor and Xinhe Technology to establish Xinyueneng Semiconductor, which mainly lays out automotive-grade power semiconductor products. With a total investment of 7.5 billion yuan, the project includes a planned annual output of 240,000 6-inch SiC wafer chips in the first phase, which will be put into trial production at the end of March 2023 and is scheduled to reach production by the end of December 2024.
At the same time as the first phase of production, Xinyue Energy will start the second phase of the project, with an annual output of 240,000 pieces of 8-inch SiC wafer chips, which is expected to reach production in 2026, and start the third phase of the project at the same time, which is planned to reach production in 2029. It is estimated that the annual output value of the first phase of the project will reach 4 billion yuan, and the total annual output value of the second phase will reach 10 billion yuan.
In addition, at the beginning of 2023, Geely Technology announced that it had signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Jita Semiconductor, under which the two parties will carry out comprehensive cooperation in the fields of R&D, manufacturing, market application, and talent training of automotive-grade chips, and jointly commit to the coordinated development of the automotive-grade chip industry, promote breakthroughs in key semiconductor technologies, and establish a mature and stable automotive semiconductor industry ecosystem.
In this cooperation, the two parties will jointly build the first domestic automotive electronics sharing vertically integrated manufacturing chip alliance, set up a joint laboratory, focus on the research and development, process joint debugging, production process of automotive electronics MCU, power devices, SoC, PMIC and other chips, and devote themselves to vehicle reliability testing and vehicle mass production applications. At the same time, the two sides focus on advanced process capabilities and talent team training to ensure the safety and long-term sustainability of the automotive-grade chip chain.
Dongfeng & CRRC: Zhixin Semiconductor.
In 2019, Dongfeng and CRRC established "Zhixin Semiconductor" to put into production IGBT modules based on the sixth-generation IGBT technology, which will be installed on Dongfeng Fengshen, VOYAH and other independent brand models.
Zhixin Semiconductor's silicon carbide power module was approved in January 2021 and will be equipped with Dongfeng's own new energy passenger vehicles from this year to achieve mass production. It is reported that on November 4, Zhixin Semiconductor achieved a breakthrough in mass production of silicon carbide power semiconductors, and Dongfeng's first batch of independent silicon carbide power modules using nano-silver sintering technology were successfully rolled off the production line from the second phase of Zhixin Semiconductor, and independent packaging, testing and application aging tests were completed.
It is reported that the module can promote the iteration of the electrical architecture of new energy vehicles from 400V to 800V, so as to achieve 80% charging in 10 minutes, and further improve the vehicle mileage and reduce the cost of the whole vehicle.
In addition, Dongfeng Motor has a total investment of 2The second phase of the 800 million yuan power module project is also accelerating, on the one hand, the project optimizes the existing production line, increases the output of IGBT modules, and on the other hand, opens up two new production lines to produce IGBT modules and silicon carbide power modules according to order requirements, and by 2025, it can provide about 1.2 million power modules for the production of Dongfeng new energy vehicles every year.
FAW &ACP, Yima Pioneer.
In March 2019, FAW, AC Propulsion of the United States and Beijing Yima Pioneer Automotive Technology Co., Ltd. established a collaborative innovation laboratory to carry out research on silicon carbide technology.
In 2021, the silicon carbide project of the joint venture between FAW and Yima Semiconductor was put into operation, with an annual output of 300,000 modules.
SAIC & Infineon: SAIC Infineon.
In March 2018, SAIC and Infineon formed a joint venture, SAIC Infineon Automotive Power Semiconductors (Shanghai)** to explore ways to secure their silicon carbide chips**, including a joint venture with component manufacturers.
According to the official news of SAIC Infineon, SAIC Infineon has established an advanced automated production line, completed the mass production of the first and second generation products in stages, and the core component of SAIC New Energy Vehicles, IGBT power semiconductor module, is fully guaranteed by SAIC Infineon.
Based on Infineon's product support, SAIC Infineon's Hybridpack Drive power module adopts Infineon's most advanced 7th generation IGBT EDT2 chip and the first module packaging technology, which has the characteristics of high power density and low energy loss, showing 30% better than ordinary automotive power modules The above power cycling capabilities have become the preferred products for power semiconductors for new energy electric vehicles and hybrid vehicles of different power levels, and up to now, SAIC Infineon has completed the production and sales of more than 1 million IGBT power modules in the Chinese market.
Strategic investments
In addition to self-development and joint ventures, the use of strategic investment to enter the power semiconductor industry has also become commonplace in the automotive industry. This move is either to expand their own investment territory, or to cultivate potential first-class businessmen for themselves, in general, almost mainstream car companies have been involved, through the signing of strategic cooperation agreements, to promote their own industrialization of automotive-grade IGBT, SIC MOSFET and other related products.
Junxin Electronics. Taking Zhanxin Electronics as an example, in the 7 rounds of financing since its establishment, BAIC Industrial Investment, Xiaomi Group, GAC Capital, Xiaopeng Motors, SAIC Investment, etc. have appeared. In February last year, Xpeng Motors made an exclusive investment in the company.
It is reported that Junxin Electronics is the first company in China to independently develop and master 6-inch SiC MOSFET products and process platforms. In the past few years, we have successively made breakthroughs in automotive-grade high-voltage, low-resistance SiC MOSFET devices, and steadily promoted the strategic transformation of SiC IDM around the Turn-Key chip solution strategy with SIC applications as the core, which is about to open up the closed loop from design to production.
Xinlian Power. In October this year, SMIC announced that it would invest in the establishment of a one-stop system solution focusing on automotive-grade silicon carbide (SiC) manufacturing and module packaging.
In addition to the central integration, it also includes Shangqi Capital and Hengxu Capital under SAIC Group, Xinghang Capital under Xiaopeng Motors, Chendao Investment under CATL, Liling ** under Lixun Precision, Boyuan Capital under Bosch, and Sungrow Power Supply are leading photovoltaic companies in China.
Zhenqi Technology. In September this year, Volvo Cars Technology invested in Zhenqi Technology, which will mainly focus on the application of silicon carbide power modules and electronic control machines.
Feiwan Semiconductor.
BAIC Group also invested in Feikun Semiconductor, a developer of SiC power devices, through its affiliated enterprise Shenzhen Anpeng Angel Investment Center (Limited Partnership). In fact, this is not the first time that BAIC Group has deployed semiconductors. As early as 2018, BAIC New Energy, a subsidiary of BAIC Group, established a joint laboratory with ROHM SemiconductorIn 2019, BAIC Group signed a strategic cooperation agreement with NXPIn 2020, BAIC Industrial Investment and Imagination jointly developed automotive semiconductors, and in the same year, the Guochuang Center led by BAIC Group launched the "China Automotive Chip Innovation Alliance" in Beijing.
In addition, a large number of power semiconductor companies such as Wingtech Technology, Silan Microelectronics, Star Semiconductor, Changjing Technology, and Basic Semiconductor have received the support of a number of OEMs and first-class business capital, and are seeking domestic substitution.
In addition to direct investment in power semiconductor companies, car companies are also constantly focusing on the layout of the industrial chain.
According to incomplete statistics, SAIC, GAC and Xiaopeng and other car company investment companies also participated in the strategic placement of Tianyue Advanced. Tianyue Advanced is a leading semi-insulating SiC substrate in China, and plans to build an annual output of 300,000 pieces of conductive SiC substrates.
Great Wall Motor invested in Tongguang Co., Ltd. and laid out SiC substrate materials. Tongguang Co., Ltd. is the first emerging industry enterprise in Hebei Province that can mass-produce SiC single crystal substrates, through cooperation with the Institute of Semiconductors of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, committed to the research of SiC single crystal materials and applications, the company's SiC single crystal substrate products have covered different diameters and types.
Write at the end
On the whole, the automotive market, as the largest application field of power semiconductors, including SiC, has entered a stage of vigorous development with the outbreak of new energy vehicles. Coupled with the 800V high-voltage platform and more vehicle electrification and intelligent booms, the cooperation between car companies and power semiconductor manufacturers will become closer and closer.
This also makes car companies irrepressibly involved in this "whirlpool". It can also be seen from the above that in the layout of power semiconductors, almost all the current mainstream car companies can be found.
On the whole, whether car companies choose to develop their own or lay out the field of power semiconductors through joint ventures and strategic investments, they can improve the stability and cost-effectiveness of power semiconductors, and at the same time, they can also lay out the research and development of the next generation of power semiconductors in advance, so as to gain more voice and competitive advantages in the industrial chain.
Further, the entire automotive industry chain is also expected to be optimized and improved.
Especially for domestic car companies, power semiconductors are a track full of opportunities and challenges, which makes car companies nervous and dare not take it lightly.