Yesterday, "Three Generations and a Half Winds" reported on the production expansion and financing of more than 30 billion yuan by nine companies including Sanan, Luxiao and Star. In the first quarter of this year,Bosch、Roma、TSMCandSK SiltronSix other companies are also expanding their third-generation semiconductor production capacity.
 

Among them, the latest German factory built by Bosch with an investment of 7.7 billion yuan has started production; Rohm's new factory has also been completed.Cumulative investment amount is approximately RMB 3.6 billion，Silicon carbide production capacity will increase five times; and TSMC was recently rumored to have purchased 16 gallium nitride equipment.Production capacity will exceed 10,000 pieces, while its customers revealed that TSMCThis year’s gallium nitride production capacity will beImproved by 40 times.

With the continuous improvement of production capacity, the price of third-generation semiconductor products has been declining. Recently, a foreign company revealed that the price of its silicon nitride transistors has dropped to less than US$1.

Bosch and ROHM new factories to be put into production

TSMC is revealed to have increased production capacity by 40 times

On March 9, according to "Robotics & Automaiton", the Bosch Group's chip factory in Dresden, Germany, has started producing the first batch of semiconductor wafers. According to reports, the investment in the chip factory is approximately 1 billion euros (7.7 billion yuan). Bosch has been developing silicon carbide products in this factory since 2019. Bosch board member Harald Kroeger said the chip plant is expected to start operations by the end of this year.  ROHM has also built a new silicon carbide chip factory. According to Nikkei Online, in January 2021, Rohm Investment held a completion ceremony for the new factory in Miyazaki. Production equipment has now been installed and the new factory will be officially put into operation in 2022. Rohm previously stated that it plans to invest a total of 60 billion yen (approximately 3.58 billion yuan) in the Miyazaki factory by the end of March 2025 to expand SiC chip production capacity to 16 times that of 2016, of which new energy vehicle SiC power semiconductor production capacity will be five times the current level.
  On February 23, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd. revealed that it had purchased 16 units of gallium nitride (GaN)-related equipment. TSMC currently has six units of 6-inch production equipment. After this investment is reached, the number of its GaN equipment will more than triple, and its production capacity will increase to more than 10,000 pieces.
  GaN Systems’ announcement confirms TSMC’s production expansion rumors. On February 8, GaN Systems stated that its GaN transistor shipments reached 20 million units, and also stated that its factory partners will increase production capacity 40 times in 2021. GaN Systems CEO Jim Witham said the company's huge shipments are due to huge demand growth and the commitment of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) to produce capacity ahead of the demand curve.
  The "Three and a Half Generations Trend" combined news from foreign media and found that the expansion of third-generation semiconductor production has become a global phenomenon:
 

• South Korea's SK Siltron has begun small-scale production of silicon carbide wafers.
• The Newport Fab in the UK plans to apply the foundry-level 650V silicon-based GaN HEMT process to the 200mm (8-inch) wafer platform to expand the current wafer production capacity of 8,000 wafers/week to 14,000 wafers/week.
• Cambridge GaN Devices announced it has received $9.5 million in Series A financing to expand its power device product portfolio.
• India is also considering building chip factories. Local officials believe that India's best opportunity to build chip factories lies in compound semiconductors, such as gallium nitride and silicon carbide.

   

Order volume growth

Prices start to fall

Driven by markets such as chargers, electric vehicles, and 5G communications, the order volume of third-generation semiconductors continues to grow. In addition to GaN Systems announcing that it has shipped more than 20 million units, test equipment supplier Aehr Test Systems also announced on February 22 that it has received a US$1.3 million order for WaferPak consumables. Its customers have previously installed FOX multi-wafer test equipment systems. These orders are for mass production testing of silicon carbide power semiconductors and other products for new energy vehicles.

As production continues to grow, the price of third-generation semiconductors continues to decline. Recently, GaN Systems announced that the price of its GaN transistors has dropped below $1.

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