TECHCET has released the latest report on silicon carbide (SiC) wafer materials, predicting that despite a general slowdown in the global economy and other semiconductor material markets this year, silicon carbide (SiC) wafers will continue to grow strongly by 2023. By 2022, the SiC N-type wafer output market has grown by about 15% compared to 2021, totaling 884k wafers (equivalent to 150mm). It is expected that the market will further grow in 2023, reaching 1.072 million wafers (slightly higher than 1 million 150mm equivalent), an increase of about 22% compared to 2022. The overall compound annual growth rate from 2022 to 2027 is estimated to be approximately 17%.http://www.ic-bom.com/

The high demand for silicon carbide (SiC) wafers is due to the proximity of silicon based power devices to their physical limits, especially for high-speed or high-power applications. Broadband gap semiconductors represent the most promising alternatives currently available, while silicon carbide (SiC) is at the forefront in terms of material properties and supply chain maturity. In addition, the overall demand for electric vehicles, charging infrastructure, green energy production, and more efficient power devices has driven higher demand for silicon carbide (SiC).

Although silicon carbide (SiC) is becoming increasingly popular, its chemical properties make it difficult to machine ingots into actual wafers. This has led to a shortage of supply in the silicon carbide wafer market. In order to increase the supply of silicon carbide ingots in the past few years, a large number of companies have entered or announced significant expansion in the growth capacity of silicon carbide ingots, but few companies have truly entered the chip service market.

SK Silicon Carbide Capacity Expands Nearly Three Times

Recently, SK Group announced that SK powertech‘s new factory in Busan, South Korea has completed trial operation and entered mass production. This means that SK powertech‘s silicon carbide (SiC) semiconductor production capacity will expand by nearly three times. It is expected that SK powertech‘s sales growth will exceed 500 billion Korean won (approximately 374 million US dollars) in 2026.

SK powertech‘s new factory in Busan plans to increase its operating rate to 100% by the fourth quarter of 2023. At that time, the new factory will have an annual SiC power semiconductor production capacity of 29000 sheets (150mm/6-inch chip standard), which is nearly three times higher than the current approximately 10000 sheets.http://www.ic-bom.com/