MOSFET industry: China race to enlarge their market shares

“Silicon MOSFETs are key components in a very wide range of low and mid-power applications”,asserts Ana Villamor, PhD. Technology & Market Analyst, Power Electronics & Compound Semiconductors at Yole Développement (Yole).“In 2020, the silicon MOSFET market was worth US$7.5 billion. At Yole, we expect a 3.8% CAGR from 2020-2026, with most revenue coming from consumer and automotive markets.”

In general, 2021 has been an impressive year for MOSFETs with a huge recovery from COVID-19 thanks to the high demand for computing and consumer electronics.

Today the consumer market contributes 37% of silicon MOSFET revenues, making it the largest sector. Yole’s analysts are expecting this to fall in coming years due to lower end system demand after COVID-19 lockdowns, which have been very good for computing and consumer electronics, resulting in a US$2.8 billion market by 2020.

Automotive, including EV, will boost the demand for silicon power MOSFETs due to increasing adoption of auxiliary systems and electrification. Auxiliary motor drives boost low voltage MOSFETs, while electrification boosts high voltage MOSFETs that are included in DC/DC converter or on-board charger systems. The two segments together are today 21% of the MOSFET market. They will increase to 32% by 2026.

“Indeed, new environmental regulations targeting carbon neutrality by 2050 by some governments play in favor of faster vehicle electrification”, explains Amine Allouche, Technology & Cost Analyst at System Plus Consulting. “And power electronics is a key technology for this transition. Silicon MOSFETs benefit from mature infrastructure and processes. Meanwhile, new device generations are coming to the market. In addition to performance improvements, silicon MOSFET die costs will be further reduced thanks to a 12-inch silicon wafer transition that will make their cost increasingly competitive.”

And of course, MOSFETs play an important role in many any other applications…

Released today, the Silicon MOSFET Market & Technology Trends report from Yole, contributes to the understanding of the overall power electronics ecosystem, its latest innovations and the strategy of leading companies. Including market trends and forecasts, supply chain, technology trends, technical insights, and market segmentations, take away and outlook… This study delivers an impressive overview of the power electronics industry with a special focus on MOSFET market segment.

Yole’s partner, System Plus Consulting also contributed to this understanding of the MOSFET market and technologies evolution. The reverse engineering and costing company delivers a dedicated report to deep dive into the MOSFET technologies and the strategy of the components’ manufacturers: Automotive Low-Voltage Si MOSFET Comparison 2021 report. In this report, System Plus Consulting is offering a comprehensive overview and comparison of the silicon MOSFET dedicated to automotive applications and the technical choices made by the power electronics players.

In this ecosystem, Infineon Technologies keeps its leading position thanks to its large MOSFET portfolio and its well-known CoolMOS technology. In the MOSFET ranking, onsemi reaches the 2nd position, with 13% market share , with leadership in low-voltage automotive market segment.
And what about the Chinese players?
Indeed, they are not very visible in the MOSFET market, since it is highly technologically driven,” However, at Yole, we start to see players such as Jilin Sino Microelectronics, Silan Microelectronics or CRMicro with quite a few MOSFET products in their portfolio… As detailed in Yole’s silicon MOSFET report, China accounts for 38% of silicon MOSFET sales. As well as growing demand for silicon MOSFETs for different applications, the Chinese government is pushing for domestic manufacturing.
“It is therefore not surprising that Chinese players are investing in manufacturing capabilities,”asserts Milan Rosina, PhD. Principal Analyst, Power Electronics & Batteries at Yole. “Foundries like HHGrace and CanSemi have invested in 300mm facilities to cope with higher production of MOSFETs and other power components and have started production in them.”
However, this is not the end of Chinese push for 300mm. SiEn is building a 300mm fab, as well as CRMicro and Nexperia. In fact, CRMicro recently raised money through an IPO , and has already expanded its 200mm line.
Other companies like Jiejie Microelectronics and SMIC are following the same pattern. All of them want to invest the money raised into manufacturing capacity.

However, it is not all about investments in manufacturing sites…
Chinese companies are also gaining market share via acquisitions. Deals by Chinese-owned companies are not straightforward since the China-US trade war started. See for example the Nexperia–Newport, UK, Wafer Fab or Magnachip-Wise Road Capital acquisitions. Chinese manufacturers are also investing in technology knowledge.
Five years back, Chinese products were believed to be lower performance than Europe, Japan, or American manufacturers for high-end components like super junction MOSFETs. However, this is changing. Some Chinese companies can achieve similar performances to key MOSFET players.
All in all, Chinese manufacturers are racing to capture a big portion of the MOSFET market.