Wolfspeed in Trouble, Navitas Soars—Big Shifts Coming for SiC?

[karin623]

The silicon carbide (SiC) market is going through some serious shake-ups. Wolfspeed, once the dominant SiC wafer supplier, is now facing bankruptcy—after years of capacity bets and a brutal price war with China’s “red supply chain.” On the other hand, Navitas has seen its stock surge 2.5x as investors bet on U.S.-aligned SiC players. What’s driving this sudden shift? In a word: NVIDIA.

In a recent exclusive interview, J.H. Shyu of Taiwan’s Episil shared some fascinating insights. Turns out, NVIDIA’s new 800V architecture for AI servers is creating huge demand for SiC-based power devices. Compared to EVs, where SiC adoption has been more gradual, AI data centers need far better power efficiency—at scale and fast. SiC’s high-voltage, high-frequency strengths are now in the spotlight.

This is already starting to reshape the global SiC ecosystem. Taiwan’s foundries, who were previously cautious about SiC, are now ramping up. U.S. fabless players are also looking to diversify away from China-linked supply and are finding new Taiwanese partners.

There’s also buzz that Wolfspeed’s assets might get snapped up soon—possibly by U.S. or Taiwanese buyers—as the AI-driven SiC market heats up.

If you follow power semis and SiC (like many here on SemiWiki), this article is definitely worth a read. The AI boom is clearly becoming a new driver for SiC demand, and it’s happening faster than a lot of folks expected.

Full story here: https://cwnewsroom.substack.com/p/exclusive-episils-wolfspeeds-navitas-nvidia-sic

 

[Paul2]

The AI boom is clearly becoming a new driver for SiC demand

No it doesn't, comparatively to the applications where SiCs physical advantages make it the only alternative to silicon, IT SMPS is still very tiny.

The data from Yolo Development is grossly incorrect. The grid, and solar, and large motor drives still eat more wafers than IT, and automotive combined, because SiC advantage there for 1200V+ voltages is insurmountable.

The natural opponent of SiC in automotive is high end silicon switches which don't need to beat SiC voltage tolerance there (only 600V-1000V needed)

Mainland China is the biggest electric car market, bigger than the rest of the world combined, and they mostly go for SiC only on flagship models, and they came to the point where a high-end Si IGBT is now closing on SiC in efficiency in mid-range.

 

[benb]

This was an interesting read. I like the approach to reporting Tech Taiwan takes.

My take is that it's been a long time since the semiconductor industry had a player like China, with no profit sensitivity, with the only goal market share. Highly leveraged semiconductor companies, like Wolfspeed, will always be the victims in this environment. It's a lesson, but I don't think the lesson is being absorbed.

The article makes reference to TSMC historical success investing in downturns, at the time that IDMs pull back, as an analogy for the SiC current market condition. That's a bit of a naive assessment. As can be seen by Wolfspeed bankruptcy, taking on risk isn't enough; you need to be able to withstand years of low prices too.