At the end of 2020, the chip shortage began to spread from the automotive industry to various fields involving semiconductors. Now, more than a year later, the chip shortage in the automotive industry is still in deep water. Recently, an insider of ON Semiconductor's Shenzhen factory said that "the order for automotive insulated gate bipolar transistors (IGBT) is full and no more orders are received, but it is not ruled out that there is a certain percentage of overbooking in the order", which once again triggered the automotive industry. Especially the "chip panic" on the demand side of IGBT.

It is understood that with the rapid development of the new energy vehicle industry, the demand for IGBTs has also surged, and the global chip shortage problem continues to intensify. Its impact will likely extend beyond the MCU. There is news in the supply chain that the delivery cycle of products such as ON Semiconductor and Infineon has reached 30 to 50 phases, and the cycle of individual products is even longer.

ON Semiconductor

ON Semiconductor is one of the world's largest suppliers of analog ICs, logic ICs and discrete semiconductor components. It has 12 wafer fabrication plants and 9 packaging and testing plants, with a product self-production rate of 70%. Among them, ON Semiconductor has a packaging and testing factory in Leshan, Suzhou and Shenzhen in China.

As one of the top ten semiconductor suppliers in the automotive industry, ON Semiconductor's products are used in many fields of automobiles, including on-board chargers, high-voltage load battery management, DC-DC, high-voltage powertrain, main drive inverter, 48V Belt Drive Starter-Generator (BSG), ADAS, Infotainment, Door, Seat Control, etc.

According to public information, nearly 1/3 of ON Semiconductor's 2019 annual revenue comes from the automotive market, about 1/4 comes from the industrial market, and about 1/5 comes from the communications market; by region, about 65% of the annual revenue comes from the Asian market .

In this "ON Semiconductor is not accepting orders" event, Mr. G of ON Semiconductor Shenzhen Company said, "We adopt a direct supply model for major customers, and sign a contract every two years. Our current production capacity is just enough to meet the signed orders. The demand for orders. At present, all of our orders for this year and next year have been placed, and we are no longer accepting orders. There is not enough production capacity, and orders cannot be delivered, and there is a risk of default. Not only us, other major Suppliers are also facing the same situation.”

In fact, the market shortage of automotive-grade IGBTs may be severe. People in the supply chain believe that the current shortage of IGBTs has reached more than 50 weeks, and the gap between supply and demand has been extended to more than 50%; at present, the ratio of IGBT orders to delivery capacity has been pulled to a maximum of 2:1.

IGBT international market situation

The IGBT market has long been monopolized by overseas companies such as Infineon, Fuji Electric, and Mitsubishi Electric. However, in the past two years, due to the inability of foreign supply chains to meet the strong market demand, opportunities for local suppliers have emerged.

Due to the long supply cycle of Infineon's IGBTs, some new domestic automakers began to turn to local suppliers in 2021. BYD signed IGBT supply orders with Silan Micro, Star Semiconductor, Times Electric, and China Resources Micro at the end of last year. Ideal Auto added Times Electric as its main supplier, and Zhixin Semiconductor, which was jointly established by Dongfeng and CRRC, rapidly expanded the production of IGBTs. Star Semiconductor, on the other hand, relies on local industrial control companies such as Inovance Technology and INVT to introduce products into mid-to-low-end new energy models, and gradually penetrates into mid-to-high-end models.

Internationally, industry news shows that Infineon's 12-inch wafer fab has been put into production in September 2021, with an early production capacity of 20,000-30,000 pieces/month, and a full production capacity of 80,000-100,000 pieces/month in 2023, which cannot meet new energy vehicles. And the rapid growth of photovoltaic market demand. In terms of ON Semiconductor and ST, according to industry sources, the two companies have not seen significant production expansion.

Domestic IGBT market situation

Judging from the current expansion of IGBT suppliers at home and abroad, the IGBT production capacity in the second half of this year may still not be able to meet the demand.

Among domestic suppliers, BYD Semiconductor's IGBT production capacity is close to full production by June 2021, and its new wafer production lines and Times Electric's new wafer production lines are in the early stage of construction, and no additional capacity will be released.

At the end of April this year, Times Electric stated that the supply chain of IGBT chips and sensor chips is under great pressure. At present, the orders for IGBTs for new energy vehicles are full. Over 700,000 units.

Star Semiconductor's guidelines show that the orders on hand in the photovoltaic field are several times the existing production capacity; Silan Micro said that the company continues to promote the construction of 12-inch vehicle gauges & special processes.

Distributor situation

In addition to ON Semiconductor, many power semiconductor manufacturers are also caught in the tight delivery of IGBT orders.

According to media reports, the official websites of distributors such as Future Electronics showed that by the end of April, there were 2,192 IGBT-related product information, but only 121 were in stock, of which 42 had a delivery period of 45 weeks or more. Some part numbers have even been extended to 60 weeks.

Some car companies also began to seek local suppliers in 2021 because of Infineon's tight production capacity. BYD also signed an IGBT supply order with Silan Micro at the end of last year. Industry insiders said that BYD will basically not have a shortage of IGBT supply this year through self-production, self-sale and outsourcing; but other new energy vehicle companies are faced with more challenges. huge pressure.