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TAP TIMES -37- APRIL 2022
WBG vehicle chips offer As EV battery power systems gradually de-
most development potential velop to voltage levels greater than 800V,
compared with Si, SiC will produce better
TAIPEI, Taiwan — The materials with performance in high-voltage systems.
the most development potential are Improved performance
Wide Band Gap (WBG) semiconduc-
tors with high power and high fre- SiC is expected to gradually replace part
quency characteristics, including sili- of the Si base design, greatly improve
con carbide (SiC) and gallium nitride vehicle performance, and optimize vehicle
(GaN), which are mainly used in elec- architecture. The SiC power semiconductor
tric vehicles (EV) and the fast charg- market is estimated to reach $3.39 billion
ing battery market. by 2025.
Power semiconductors GaN is suitable for high-frequency appli-
TrendForce research estimates, the out- cations, including communication devices
put value of third generation power semi- and fast charging for mobile phones, tab-
conductors will grow from $980 million in lets, and laptops. Compared with tradi-
tional fast charging, GaN fast charging has
2021 to $4.71 billion in 2025, with a CAGR
of 48%. higher power density, so charging speed
is faster within a smaller package that is
SiC is suitable for high-power applications, easier to carry.
such as energy storage, wind power, solar These advantages have proven attractive
energy, EVs, new energy vehicles (NEV)
and other industries that utilize highly de- to many OEMs and ODMs and several have
manding battery systems. started rapidly developing this material.
The GaN power semiconductor market is
estimated to reach $1.32 billion by 2025.
Among these industries, EVs have attract-
ed a great deal of attention from the mar-
ket. However, most of the power semi- More difficult to manufacture
conductors used in EVs currently on the TrendForce emphasizes that third genera-
market are Si base materials, such as Si tion power semiconductor substrates are
IGBT and Si MOSFET. more difficult to manufacture and
more expensive compared to tradi-
tional Si bases.
Taking advantage of the current de-
velopment of major substrate suppli-
ers, companies including Wolfspeed,
II-VI, and Qromis successively ex-
panded their production capacity and
will mass-produce 8-inch substrates
in the 2H22.
Output value of third generation
power semiconductors is estimated
to have room for continued growth
in the next few years.
trendforce.com
