South Korea is vigorously promoting the power semiconductor industry as one of the “15 major projects for a super innovative economy.”
SK Group is participating as the leading enterprise.
Previously, semiconductor companies hesitated, believing that semiconductors were “not a core business,” but with the government proposing a public-private partnership model covering the entire supply chain, SK took the lead in taking action.
Samsung has also begun internal research, further igniting enthusiasm for the next generation semiconductor market.
Power semiconductors are key products for future industries (such as humanoid robots, electric vehicles, and data centers).
The main feature is the use of special materials like silicon carbide (SiC) to reduce heat generation and power loss.
The SiC semiconductor market is predicted to grow at a rate of 20% per year, reaching $68.5 billion by 2030.
SK Group’s entry into the power semiconductor market is expected to intensify the competition in the development of next-generation chips.
The government plans to establish a value chain for materials such as SiC wafers and packaging processes, with SK Group as the leader.
They aim to build an integrated ecosystem connecting small and medium-sized enterprises, universities, and research institutions.
To achieve this goal, investment regulatory requirements will be relaxed.
Power semiconductors will become disruptive technologies like high bandwidth memory (HBM), fundamentally changing the industrial landscape.
By 2030, mass production will primarily focus on 8-inch wafers.
NVIDIA’s GPUs and HBM currently dominate the chip market, but this means that power semiconductor solutions capable of reliably powering high-performance GPUs will become increasingly critical in the future.
The increase in processing power for AI data centers will lead to an explosive growth in power demand. While power plants and grids that can supply electricity are important, there is a greater need for new chips that can control and manage power while minimizing heat generation and power loss.
Data centers currently consume as much electricity as a city, and the performance required for autonomous vehicles even exceeds that of high-performance computers capable of real-time calculations for hundreds of sensors.
Humanoid robots also need to precisely control multi-axis motors in high-temperature and high-vibration environments.
Power semiconductors that can solve heat generation and efficiency issues are crucial for the stable operation of all these devices.
This means that without optimizing data (chips) and energy (power semiconductors), it will be difficult to survive in the upcoming global chip competition.
In particular, compared to existing silicon-based products, silicon carbide (SiC)-based power semiconductors have become key components determining the power efficiency of the next generation of industries due to their lower power loss and higher durability in high-temperature and high-pressure environments.
South Korea has an absolute advantage in memory fields like HBM, but has started late in the next-generation power semiconductor market based on silicon carbide (SiC).
As the power semiconductor market reorganizes around 8-inch wafers, the scale will further expand.
Currently, most Korean power semiconductor manufacturers’ processes are centered around 6-inch wafer fabs.
In the semiconductor industry, larger wafers are generally considered more efficient.
The global market is also undergoing reorganization, with South Korea being excluded.
The Franco-Italian joint venture STMicroelectronics leads the silicon carbide power semiconductor market, followed by ON Semiconductor from the United States and Infineon from Germany.
China is also promoting vertical integration in the power semiconductor market, covering materials and post-processing, which could pose a potential threat at any time.
SK could become a leading player in the power semiconductor market, including SK Siltron (wafers).
After determining the development direction in the first half of next year, prototype production of 8-inch wafers will start the following year.
The goal is to develop the final prototype by 2029 and achieve mass production by 2030.
The plan is to increase the self-developed capabilities in the silicon carbide power semiconductor field from the current 10% to 20%.