what is power semiconductor

At present, the world's power semiconductor devices are mainly provided by three countries and regions: Europe, the United States, and Japan. They occupy about 70 percent of the global market share by virtue of advanced technology, manufacturing process, and leading quality management system.

On the demand side, about 39 percent of the world's power semiconductor device production capacity is consumed by mainland China, which is the world's largest demand power country, but its self-sufficiency rate is only 10 percent , and it is heavily dependent on imports.

Power semiconductors can be divided into three categories, one is power integrated circuits, that is, IC-type power devices; the second is power modules, and the third is power discrete devices. Power discrete devices diodes, transistors, MOSFETs, IGBTs, etc.

Power semiconductor application scenarios include industrial application market, automotive application market, consumer electronics application and wireless communication application. Among them, the industrial application market accounts for the largest proportion.

Three generations of semiconductor materials will coexist for a long time. The first generation of semiconductors: represented by elemental semiconductors such as silicon (Si) and germanium (Ge); the second generation of semiconductors: represented by compound semiconductors such as gallium arsenide (GaAs) and indium phosphide (lnP); the third generation of semiconductors : Represented by wide bandgap semiconductors such as gallium nitride (GaN) and silicon carbide (SiC). The third-generation semiconductor materials have the characteristics of high light efficiency, high power, high voltage and high frequency.

In the field of medium and small power (voltage below 900V), power MOSFETs and super-node MOSFETs are the most widely used. In the field of medium and high power (voltage 1200V-6500V), IGBT is the mainstream product, which is also the mainstream power device suitable for automobiles. In the field of ultra-high power (voltage above 3.3kV, capacity 1-45MW), the market for thyristors and integrated gate commutated thyristors (IGCTs) is broad.

In recent years, the global power semiconductor market has been stable at the level of 15 billion to 20 billion US dollars, accounting for about 5 percent of the global semiconductor market. The vast majority of the market is monopolized by foreign manufacturers, including Infineon, TI, NXP, Renesas, etc. There is still a lot of room for Chinese products to substitute, and the top ten manufacturers account for 57 percent of the market share. Compared with the integrated circuit industry, the market concentration of discrete devices is lower, and the commercial ecological barriers are not high.

In the power semiconductor market, the largest company is infineon, with 19 percent ; according to product types, the most important products are mosfet and IGBT. For other products, BJTs, thyristors, and diodes, the market is very fragmented and low in value. According to IHS, MOSFETs accounted for 55 percent of the total transistor market in 2016, followed by IGBTs and BJTs with 30 percent and 15 percent shares.

From the perspective of the most important IGBT and MOSFET markets, Infineon ranks first in the world in terms of market share. Other companies, including Mitsubishi Electric, Fuji Electric, Renesas, and ST also hold high market shares. Unlike the highly fragmented diode market and transistor market, the IGBT and MOSFET markets have higher market concentration due to their higher technical barriers.

China's domestic IGBT market accounts for about 50 percent of the total global demand. However, the current domestic market share is mainly monopolized by international giants, and the localization rate is only 11 percent . Jiaxing Star is a leading domestic IGBT company, and its products also have automotive grades. At present, the market share of leading power semiconductor companies in mainland China, represented by Yangjie Technology, Huawei Electronics, Silan Microelectronics, and Jiejie Microelectronics, is very low, and there is huge room for import substitution. The domestic professional automotive semiconductor manufacturers with a certain market position, BYD and Jiangsu Hongwei are relatively prominent. QA Session Question 1: What do you think of the mainland company's entry into the power semiconductor field through the acquisition of Anshi? Will it be able to catch up with leading companies such as Infineon in the future?

A: Mainland companies come to acquire some mature foreign companies, many of which are high-quality assets. From a personal point of view, it is positive, and it can indeed help our mainland companies to speed up their entry into this field.

Will Nexperia be able to catch up with Infineon in the future? The first is not a company of the same size. Secondly, in the fields that Nexperia can involve, some products belong to the first echelon.

Question 2: There are many public semiconductor manufacturers in mainland China. Which type of company is more likely to win?

A: Whether the technology is leading, whether the price-performance ratio is high enough, then service, supply stability, product diversity, future product and market layout, and so on. These characteristics will determine the competitiveness of enterprises, so this is an issue that needs to be considered comprehensively.

Question 3: What are the technical indicators for judging power equipment?

A: Simply speaking, the main directions are: voltage level, working frequency, working power, etc.