South Korea's foray into power semiconductors

In recent years, the power semiconductor market has developed rapidly, and the United States, Europe, Japan and other countries have introduced bills to increase support for the power semiconductor industry. After these countries have successively entered the market, South Korea has also rushed into the field in order to expand its influence in the semiconductor field.

According to Korean media ETNews, in order to develop a new generation of power semiconductors, South Korea officially launched the "New Generation Crystal Engineering Department" composed of its domestic semiconductor companies, universities, research institutes, etc. on April 14 to deal with silicon carbide (SiC), The rapidly growing global power semiconductor market such as Gallium Nitride (GaN) and Gallium Oxide (GaO).

The research department will develop a domestic power semiconductor ecosystem based on silicon carbide (SiC), and will also foster the development of SiC semiconductor-related materials, components, and equipment companies, and has decided to respond to the growth of the SiC semiconductor market. Form an alliance.

The alliance brings together 30 power semiconductor companies including LX Semiconductor, SK siltron, Hana Materials, and STI, who will participate in the development of materials, components, and power semiconductors for equipment. Among them, LX Semiconductor will develop silicon carbide semiconductors, SK siltron will be responsible for silicon carbide substrates, Hana Materials and STI will jointly develop silicon carbide semiconductor parts and equipment technology, and Kwangwon University, Gachon University and Kookmin University will support silicon carbide semiconductors The research and development infrastructure is supported by the Korea National Institute of Nanomaterials and the Institute of Ceramic Engineering Technology.

Earlier in March, TrendForce Research stated that the most promising materials at present are Wide Band Gap (WBG) semiconductors with high power and high frequency characteristics, including silicon carbide (SiC) and gallium nitride. (GaN), the main application is the electric vehicle and fast charging market.

According to an estimate by TrendForce, the output value of the third type of power semiconductors will grow from USD 980 million in 2021 to USD 4.71 billion in 2025, with a compound annual growth rate of 48%.

Facing the power semiconductor market full of unlimited opportunities, South Korea also started deployment early.

In 2016, South Korea launched a national project for power electronics around Si-based GaN and SiC devices;

In 2017, the Korean Ministry of Industry, Trade and Energy (MOTIE) held a seminar to invest 83.7 billion won in SiC power semiconductors with low energy consumption;

In 2019, the South Korean government will provide an annual budget of 1 trillion won (about 850 million US dollars) to support the localization of semiconductor materials and equipment;

In 2021, the South Korean government will invest 250 billion won (about 1.458 billion yuan), and said that it will invest 2.5 trillion won (about 14.3 billion yuan) in the next 10 years to accelerate the research and development of technologies such as power semiconductors.

U.S. companies work together to cultivate advanced manufacturing

In April, according to foreign media businesswire, Intel (Intel), Micron (Micron), Analog Devices Inc (ADI) and MITRE Engenuity announced an agreement to accelerate semiconductor research, development and prototyping to build stronger of the U.S. semiconductor industry, nurture advanced manufacturing in the U.S., and protect intellectual property in increasingly fierce global competition.

The mechanism of this semiconductor alliance means that members will commit to working together to ensure the resilience of the entire industry, aiming to provide the basis for a nationwide solution for a more innovation-focused U.S. semiconductor industry and supply chain, ensuring that U.S. innovation truly leads U.S. growth.

MITRE Engenuity has been committed to promoting the construction of the National Semiconductor Technology Center (NSTC) in recent years, trying to ensure that basic research and cutting-edge innovation achievements from laboratory to industry through this resource coordination mechanism involving IDM, foundry, academia and other participants world transformation.

The Semiconductor Alliance, led by MITRE Engenuity, grew out of the working group in 2021, and its principles were published in the American Innovation for American Growth white paper, summarizing the alliance’s call for action to establish an impartial and objective National Semiconductor Technology Center (NSTC).

This alliance builds on MITRE's 60 years of serving as an independent and objective bridge between government, industry and academia. Industry and expert participation from all aspects of the U.S. semiconductor ecosystem is currently being sought, including integrated device manufacturers (IDMs); fabless chip companies (Fabless); suppliers of infrastructure, design, and manufacturing tools; and from industry and technology innovators in academia.

In mid-January, the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) released the 2021 US Semiconductor Industry Report. SIA said that the U.S. semiconductor industry's R&D ratio exceeds that of any other country's semiconductor industry, but the dominant areas are mainly concentrated in R&D-intensive fields such as EDA and core IP, chip design, and manufacturing equipment. Its share of chip manufacturing is falling sharply, requiring greater investment and incentives.

The U.S. Senate passed the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act (USICA) in June last year, which will allocate $52 billion to support chip manufacturing, research and design. This move is to strengthen the construction of the semiconductor supply chain.

European companies strive for breakthroughs in FD-SOI technology

In April, CEA, Soitec, GlobalFoundries and STMicroelectronics announced a new partnership agreement whereby the four companies plan to jointly develop the industry's next-generation FD-SOI technology development plan.

In 2000, former Berkeley professor Hu Zhengming invented FD-SOI technology. Compared with bulk silicon technology, FD-SOI can achieve effective control of transistor current and flexible regulation of threshold voltage under nano-node technology. Therefore, from the beginning of the 21st century, European semiconductor research institutions and companies represented by Leti, Soitec, and STM began to invest in the research and development of this technology.

FD-SOI is used in a wide range, among which, automobiles are the main application areas of 2xnm FDSOI technology, including IoT devices such as radar and power supply batteries. Since the power consumption of mobile IC applications must be low enough to maximize battery life, FD-SOI technology is also well suited for mobile IC applications.

Giants form a group to form the UCIe Industry Alliance

In March, ten industry giants including Intel, AMD, Arm, Qualcomm, Microsoft, Google, Meta (Metaverse), TSMC, ASE, and Samsung announced the official establishment of the Universal Chiplet Interconnect Express (UCIe) alliance. The alliance aims to promote UCIe technical standards, build a perfect ecosystem, and make it the future on-chip interconnection standard for heterogeneous packaged chiplets (Chiplets).‍