China is the largest power semiconductor application market in the world. According to Omdia statistics, the market size is expected to increase from 18.2 billion US dollars in 2021 to 20.6 billion US dollars in 2024. However, such a huge market is mainly dominated by European, American and Japanese companies. According to CCID statistics, the dependence of China's power semiconductor market on foreign countries are close to 90%.
With the rapid development of new energy vehicles, photovoltaic energy, rail transit, smart grid and other emerging industries in China, the original power semiconductor supply system can't keep up with the market demand seriously, resulting in a serious shortage of power devices. Especially in high-end application fields such as new energy vehicles, it is normal for futures to be delivered for as long as one year, and China urgently needs to reconstruct the power semiconductor supply chain system.
In this context, the local power semiconductor enterprises represented by Suzhou CONVERT Semiconductor Co., Ltd. accelerated the layout of emerging markets, accelerated the research and development and launch of SiC-based power devices and power IC products on the basis of the original silicon-based MOSFET power device product system, and achieved remarkable results, escorting the development of new energy vehicles, photovoltaic energy, rail transit, smart grid and other emerging industries in China.
Figure1: Power IC products
Hard & core technology builds rich product lines
As the core of power conversion and circuit control in electronic devices, power semiconductors are highly valued by the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain. A number of first-mover enterprises have been formed in the industry, and most of them build a complete chain from product design to wafer manufacturing and packaging and testing in IDM mode; However, IDM mode has a high demand for technology, capital and talents. Therefore, some late-developing power semiconductor enterprises choose Fabless as their business model, focus on product R&D and design in the form of light assets, master core technologies, and quickly launch products to the market with the help of supply chain resources.
CONVERT, established in 2015, adopts Fabless business model, and through independent innovation and technology precipitation, it has the ability of design and research and development of power devices and power IC, mastered its own core technology of power semiconductor chips, and accumulated rich experience in design and process development.
- In terms of power devices,
CONVERT has the ability to design and develop silicon-based and SiC-based power devices at the same time, and has accumulated a number of original and advanced core technologies, of which three have reached the international advanced level and one has reached the domestic leading level.
- In the field of planar MOSFET,
The core technologies of CONVERT include "high reliability cellular structure", "new composite terminal structure and realization technology", etc. FRMOS products developed and mass-produced based on "minority carrier lifetime control and process realization technology of high voltage MOSFET" have the advantages of short reverse recovery time, small leakage current, good high temperature characteristics, soft reverse recovery characteristics and low electromagnetic interference; In the aspect of the third generation semiconductor devices, CONVER has achieved stable performance and excellent yield control of SiC MOSFET by using the mastered "channel control and manufacturing technology of short channel silicon carbide MOSFET device series products".
- In terms of power IC,
CONVERT independently built a design platform based on the 0.5 μ m 600V SOI BCD process and 0.18 μ m 40V BCD process of wafer foundry. Through in-depth cooperation with the wafer foundry, CONVERT can adjust the process parameters and processes according to the standard process of the wafer foundry, and further optimize the product performance. Its many original and advanced core technologies can effectively improve the consistency of product parameters and enhance the reliability of products.
It is worth noting that in order to speed up the mastery of core technologies, CONVERT has maintained a high R&D investment in recent years. According to the public prospectus registration draft, in 2020-2021 and the first half of 2022, CONVERT R&D investment was 13.8855 million yuan, 18.8627 million yuan and 11.6663 million yuan respectively, accounting for 10.14% of revenue respectively with high R&D investment, CONVERT has gradually established its own moat. As of the signing date of the registered draft of the prospectus, CONVERT has been granted 50 patents and 32 exclusive rights in layout design of integrated circuits.
Figure2: Comparison of R&D investment between CONVERT and other companies
With the support of a series of core technologies, CONVERT has successfully launched more than 700 products such as MOSFET and power IC. At the same time, the IP design, development and verification required by several power ICs have been completed. The power IC based on the self-developed IP has the characteristics of high integration, high reliability, high working frequency, wide working voltage range, low power consumption and wide working temperature range (-55 ℃-125 ℃). SiC MOSFET product series covers 650V-1700V voltage range, and has formed more than 80 products, meeting the application requirements in many fields.
Up to now, CONVERT continues to enrich its product matrix, striving to become a one-stop supplier of high-performance power semiconductor products covering all categories, helping the localization of power semiconductors and promoting the development of independent and controllable process of basic components in high-reliability fields in China.
Power IC is becoming a new engine for performance growth
With the continuous enrichment of product matrix and the continuous expansion of downstream application fields, the performance of CONVERT has shown a rapid growth trend in recent years. According to the disclosed data, from 2019 to 2021 and from January to September 2022, the operating income of CONVERT was 107 million yuan, 137 million yuan, 210 million yuan and 175 million yuan respectively; The net profit also increased from 9,338,100 yuan in 2019 to 48,477,200 yuan in 2021, and reached 42,971,200 yuan from January to September 2022, an increase of 21.38% year-on-year, continuing to show a rapid growth trend. Among them, most of the revenue of CONVERT comes from core technology products and services such as planar MOSFET and power IC. From 2019 to 2021 and January to June 2022, the revenue of its core technology products accounted for more than 90%.
After further analysis, it is found that a new change trend is taking place in the product structure of CONVERT. From 2019 to 2021 and from January to June 2022, the revenue of CONVERT Plane MOSFET maintained a growth trend, which was 91.7034 million yuan, 118 million yuan, 169 million yuan and 64.5863 million yuan respectively, and its proportion in the main business income was 86.71%, 88.39% and 83.07 respectively
At the same time, the revenue of power IC showed a rapid growth trend, which was 2,115,800yuan, 3,223,200yuan, 11,694,900 yuan and 28,460,200 yuan respectively from 2019 to 2021 and January to June 2022. Not only did the revenue scale grow rapidly, but the proportion of revenue is also growing rapidly, which has increased from 2% in 2019 to 2022.
Figure3: 2019-2022 power IC changes in revenue proportion of CONVERT
It should be pointed out in particular that behind the large increase in the revenue scale of power IC products, the volume and price are rising simultaneously. The sales volume and unit price of power IC products from 2019 to 2021 and from January to June 2022 kept increasing. With regard to the reasons for the rising volume and price of power IC products, CONVERT explained that the revenue of IC products mainly comes from customers in highly reliable fields. Based on the improvement of the company's product serialization, excellent product quality and service capabilities, the company's brand influence and market recognition have been rapidly improved, which has driven old customers to expand their purchases, and realized the starting of new customers, superimposed the favorable factors such as market shortage and product model difference, and driven the volume and price of power IC products of CONVERT to rise.
Next, CONVERT will strengthen R&D investment, and realize serial development and large-scale mass production of power IC products in security, smart home appliances and high-reliability applications based on accumulated IP cores.
SiC first-Mover advantage appears and is expected to lead roof of the world
Power semiconductors cover a wide range of fields. In addition to traditional silicon-based products, CONVERT is also actively deploying the research and development and application of third-generation semiconductors such as SiC. Data show that, unlike traditional silicon-based power devices, SiC materials have the advantages of high voltage resistance, high temperature resistance and high working frequency. The third generations semiconductor materials represented by SiC have brought new development opportunities to the power semiconductor industry.
At present, new energy vehicles, photovoltaic energy, rail transit, Smart grid and other emerging industries are developing rapidly, and power semiconductor devices with superior performance are needed. From the perspective of electrical conversion efficiency, the third generations semiconductors such as SiC are undoubtedly the best choice, especially in the field of new energy vehicles. It has become the core driving force to promote mass production of SiC. Up to now, mass production models such as Tesla Model 3, BYD HAN, NIO ET7, XPENG G9 and GEELY Smart Elf # 1 have been installed. In the future, with the continuous mass production of SiC, the cost will be further reduced, and its application fields will also be extended from high-end new energy models to people-friendly models, photovoltaics and industrial power supplies.
It is estimated that by 2026, the global market size of power devices in new energy vehicles will reach 85 billion yuan, among which the market size of SiC power semiconductors will be close to 28 billion yuan, with a penetration rate exceeding 30%.
Chart 1 SiC Power Semiconductor Market Scale in China's New Energy Vehicle Segment Market (Unit: 100 million yuan)
Scale of SiC Power Semiconductor Market in China's New Energy Vehicle Segment Market
Based on the prediction of the future development trend of emerging industries, CONVERT began to research and develop SiC-related power devices in the second half of 2018, and is one of the local enterprises that laid out SiC field earlier in China and realized the supply of related products. Through continuous exploration and R&D investment in the structural design and production process of SiC devices, CONVERT SiC products have been supplied in small batches, covering the mainstream voltage segment in the industry, and it is expected to continue to expand its market share by virtue of its first-Mover advantage in the future.
According to reports, the SiC power device products of CONVERT mainly include SiC MOSFET and SiC SBD (Schottky Barrier Diode). Among them, in the field of SiC MOSFET, CONVERT is one of the few enterprises in China with the ability to design 650V-1700V voltage product series. Its product C2M065W030 is basically equivalent to domestic and foreign competitors in many key performance indicators, and some core indicators are even better than international brand products. SiC SBD has also formed a product series layout of 650V-1200V voltage specification.
From 2019 to 2021 and from January to June 2022, the SiC power devices achieved revenues of 23,500yuan, 386,400yuan, 1,005,000 yuan and 2,376,600 yuan respectively, accounting for 0.02%, 0.29%, 0.49% and 2.04% of the revenues of each period respectively
Up to now, CONVERT is still making continuous and in-depth research on SiC high-temperature packaging applications, SiC MOSFET optical relays and digital power supplies, and further promoting the mass production and technical upgrading of the third generations semiconductor power devices. CONVERT said that in terms of SiC power devices, based on the existing design and process platform, the company will carry out research on product serialization research and development and reliability improvement in the fields of new energy vehicles and photovoltaic power generation applications, continuously enrich product series, enhance the competitive advantage and service capability of domestic substitution of the company's products, and promote the rapid development of China's emerging industries.
This article Source: ANJI Microelectronics
Suzhou CONVERT Company Work Along Two Lines at the Same Time to Break into Blue Sea, Sic is Expected to Lead Roof of the World-China.exportsemi.com
