Recently, Huawei held a new smart electric product launch conference and released the "DriveONE new generation hyper-converged golden power platform" focusing on the power domain and the charging network solution of "new generation fully liquid-cooled super-charging architecture".
Among them, DriveONE's new generation of super-converged gold power platform mainly includes powertrain solutions for B/B+ class pure electric, B/B+ class extended range hybrid, and A-class pure electric models. The goal is to continuously improve the vehicle's electric mileage. and fuel mileage to achieve higher mileage with the same battery power.
It is worth noting that this platform is equipped with high-efficiency SiC silicon carbide technology, leading the industry in performance, efficiency, charging speed and cruising range. Huawei's silicon carbide layout has already begun.
As a typical representative of the third generation of semiconductor materials, silicon carbide is favored by the capital market. Silicon carbide (SiC) devices have the advantages of high temperature resistance, high voltage resistance, good high-frequency characteristics, high conversion efficiency, small size and light weight, and are widely used in new energy vehicles, rail transit, photovoltaics, 5G communications and other fields.
Before this release of smart electric products, Huawei's actions in the SiC field were mainly focused on investing in SiC supply chain companies. According to incomplete statistics on the compound semiconductor market, Huawei, through its subsidiary Huawei Hubble, has invested in SiC epitaxial companies Dongguan Tianyu and Hantian Tiancheng, substrate companies Shandong Tianyue and Tianke Heda, equipment-related companies Tesidi, and materials-related companies De Intelligent new materials.
As early as September 2021, Huawei released the "Digital Energy 2030" white paper, stating that the next ten years will be a period of innovation acceleration for third-generation power semiconductors, and the penetration rate will increase across the board.
Huawei's photovoltaic inverter shipments rank first in the world. If it can grasp the supply of silicon carbide, it can well control the new energy terminal device market. Huawei expects that the penetration rate of silicon carbide in photovoltaic inverters will increase from the current 2% to more than 70% in 2030. The penetration rate in the fields of charging infrastructure and electric vehicles will also exceed 80%. Communication power supplies and server power supplies will be fully promoted and applied. .
Furthermore, Huawei wants to enter automotive Tier 1, and the role of silicon carbide is naturally self-evident. The industry speculates that Huawei's thorough strategic investment layout for the entire industry chain may be for the purpose of closing the supply chain and building factories in the future. Therefore, Huawei must seize the opportunity to take core technology into its own hands in terms of third-generation semiconductors.
It is reported that Huawei’s investment purposes mainly have four levels: first, to invest in products that it cannot make on its own; second, to invest in its existing or future business; third, to lock in production capacity; fourth, to proactively request or help others based on orders. Invest in enterprises to improve their technical level.
Huawei's investment is very purposeful and only invests in products that it cannot make itself and have certain technical barriers. Huawei has made a very complete layout for silicon carbide substrates and epitaxy: in the field of silicon carbide substrates, Huawei has invested in two of the most technologically advanced companies in the country, Shandong Tianyue and Tianke Heda; in the field of silicon carbide epitaxy, Huawei has invested in Hantian Tiancheng and Dongguan Tianyu. Huawei has superimposed its own in-depth business layout and will inevitably obtain a large number of products from China in the future.
Huawei invests to penetrate the entire silicon carbide industry chain
At present, Huawei Hubble has invested in 7 listed companies, namely Tianyue Advanced, Siruipu, Dongxin Semiconductor, Canqin Technology, Juguang Technology, Dongwei Semiconductor, and Changguang Huaxin.
- Shandong Tianyue was established in November 2010. Its main products include semi-insulating and conductive SiC substrates. According to statistics from Yole, Shandong Tianyue has ranked among the top three in the world in the semi-insulating SiC substrate market in 2019 and 2020.
- Beijing Tianke Heda was jointly established in September 2006 by Xinjiang Tianfu Group and the Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. As one of the major manufacturers of SiC wafers in the world, the company's main products are 4-inch and 6-inch silicon carbide wafers, and has started research and development of 8-inch wafers. At present, the company has a R&D center and three wholly-owned subsidiaries, and its industry covers SiC single crystal furnace manufacturing, SiC single crystal growth raw material preparation and SiC single crystal substrate preparation.
- Hantian Tiancheng was founded in 2011 and currently provides standard 3-inch, 4-inch and 6-inch silicon carbide epitaxial wafers for use in 600V-6500V silicon carbide power electronic devices.
- Dongguan Tianyu is China's first private enterprise engaged in the marketing, R&D and manufacturing of SiC epitaxial wafers. It is the first company in China to achieve mass production of 6-inch epitaxial wafers; it has planned the construction of a domestic 8-inch SiC epitaxial wafer process line in advance, and is currently actively making breakthroughs in the research and development of key technologies for the 8-inch SiC process.
- Tesidi's system solutions and process equipment for thinning, polishing, and CMP have a variety of rich compound semiconductor processes and equipment manufacturing technologies. We can provide equipment and process solutions for thinning, grinding, polishing, waxing, and brushing of semiconductor substrate materials such as SiC and GaN.
- Dongwei Semiconductor's R&D team has extensive experience in wide-bandgap semiconductor research, and has successively developed parallel SiC IGBTs and wide-bandgap field-effect transistors. The new generation of high-speed IGBTs with parallel SiC diodes currently in mass production have greatly improved characteristics such as Eon, trr, Qrr and Qg, and are suitable for use in systems that pursue extreme efficiency.
Huawei's orders can help companies obtain funds for research and development of new technologies. Behind Huawei's investment in many semiconductor companies' IPOs, what may be more important than cash is orders, or actual large-scale orders all year round.
Whether it is Seripu, Canqin Technology, or Tianyue Advanced, there is a steady stream of large orders from Huawei. As early as four years ago, Canqin Technology became Huawei's supplier of 5G ceramic dielectric waveguide filters. In 2018, Canqin Technology's operating income reached nearly 300 million, and its net profit was nearly 80 million, a year-on-year increase of more than 100%. Huawei has been laying out the silicon carbide track for many years, and it will definitely be more outstanding in the future.
