According to manufacturer officials, ON Semiconductor is evaluating the feasibility of investing $2 billion in the development of silicon carbide (SiC) chips, which are widely used in electric vehicles. The expansion of production is expected in the USA, the Czech Republic or South Korea – the company already has factories in each of these countries.
Image Credit: On Semiconductor
ON Semiconductor has long been a semiconductor supplier to the transportation industry, providing chips for both vehicle propulsion systems and other solutions such as cameras and sensors that support autonomous driving systems. Not only does the company manufacture most of its chips in-house, but it has also invested heavily in building a complete supply chain, from raw materials to finished product.
At ON Semiconductor, the production of silicon carbide chips is now concentrated at one of the plants in South Korea. In the future, it is planned to organize production “end-to-end” – whichever plant is to be expanded, in the future it will carry out a full work cycle and convert silicon carbide powder into finished products on site.
According to company management, the issue of “replication” of the entire production process at different locations has become important for car manufacturers, as they have already learned from the bitter experience of 2021 – at that time, the lack of automotive chips was particularly acute disruptions in supply chains and even the standstill of automobile assembly lines. . “It’s always good to have a geographically distributed supply chain”says the management.
By 2027, the company expects to capture 40% of the silicon carbide automotive chip market. According to experts, ON Semiconductor’s sales are expected to grow from $8.3 billion in 2022 to around $13.9 billion in 2027.
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