New headline: Japanese media reports: Generative AI drives investment boom in power semiconductors

Reference News Network reported on September 25According to the "Nihon Keizai Shimbun" report on September 20, various semiconductor companies are actively investing in power semiconductors that control electricity. Japanese company Renesas Electronics will launch high-efficiency silicon carbide products on the market in 2025, and Rohm Corporation and Mitsubishi Electric Corporation will also increase production one after another. In addition to electric vehicles, demand for power semiconductors suitable for data centers is rapidly rising with the emergence of generative artificial intelligence (AI).

Renesas uses silicon carbide material substrates to produce power semiconductors, and samples have been shipped since July. Renesas purchases substrates from American companies and will begin mass production of silicon carbide products at the Takasaki Factory in Takasaki City, Gunma Prefecture in 2025. Renesas will also restart its Kofu factory in Kai City, Yamanashi Prefecture, which is currently suspended, and will double its production capacity for power semiconductors based on silicon and silicon carbide. A series of investments totaling approximately 100 billion yen (approximately US$674 million).

Silicon carbide is a compound of carbon and silicon. It is more resistant to high voltage and current than traditional silicon. The advantage is that it does not waste electricity. If it is integrated into the driving device of electric vehicles, the driving distance of the vehicle can be extended. In addition, the demand for silicon carbide in the data center field is growing rapidly.

As AI is widely used in various industrial fields, the amount of data processing and power consumption has surged. Global data center power consumption will reach 670 billion kilowatt hours in 2030, about four times that of 2018. Servers consume a lot of power, and how to save energy has become a topic. High-efficiency power semiconductors are becoming increasingly important.

The price of silicon carbide devices is 4 to 5 times that of silicon devices. However, Nagoya University Professor Yamamoto Shinichi pointed out that in data centers where large-scale investments have made progress, silicon carbide with high power utilization efficiency is increasingly being used for servers

Before the mid-2010s, power semiconductors were mainly silicon devices, but heat loss occurred when current flowed through them, which was a problem that had been faced. Starting from the second half of the 2010s, the insulation performance of silicon carbide protective films has been improved, power loss has been reduced, and durability has also been improved

Rohm has a high share of the world's silicon carbide market and will launch a new silicon carbide power semiconductor factory in Miyazaki Prefecture at the end of 2024. The goal is to invest 510 billion yen in the development of silicon carbide products and increase sales of silicon carbide power semiconductors to 270 billion yen in 2027, which will be 9 times that of 2022.

Mitsubishi Electric plans to invest approximately 100 billion yen to build a new factory in Kikuchi City, Kumamoto Prefecture by 2026, and increase silicon carbide production capacity to five times the original number in the next four years

According to statistics from the Yano Economic Research Institute, driven by the demand for electric vehicles, the power semiconductor market size is expected to grow by 7% in 2022, reaching approximately US$23.8 billion. It is expected that large overseas automobile companies will further expand the application of silicon carbide devices

After that, the use of silicon carbide devices on AI servers has surged, and will increase to four times that in 2022 in 2030. Precisely because the silicon carbide power semiconductor market has broad prospects, international competition has become more intense. According to statistics from the British company Omdia, as of 2022, Germany's Infineon Technologies ranks first in the power semiconductor market, accounting for 25%, followed by the United States' ON Semiconductor and STMicroelectronics. The share of Japanese companies is about 16%.

Infineon Technologies will invest 5 billion euros (approximately US$5.3 billion) in 2026 to launch a factory in Dresden to produce power semiconductors. The EU will provide subsidies.

Tesla Motors used silicon carbide power semiconductors produced by STMicroelectronics Co., Ltd. in its electric vehicle "Model 3" in 2017.

Power semiconductors are a key component in achieving a decarbonized society, and the development of power semiconductors is inseparable from national-level policy support. From material research and development to post-processing processes, how the government and the private sector work together to strengthen the entire supply chain will become the key to victory in global competition

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