Automotive Powertrain and Electrification 2026 - Focus on Power Electronics

SCOPE

Depth analysis:

• Vehicle
• Converter
• Device
• Wafer 

Technology:

• Si MOSFET
• Si IGBT
• SiC MOSFET
• GaN HEMT

 

MARKET

While near-term industry attention is increasingly focused on AI data centers, vehicle electrification remains a durable long-term revenue opportunity for power electronics companies. The xEV power device market will reach $14.5B by 2031, growing at a 2025–2031 CAGR of 13.8%.

• 2021-2026-2031 Timeframe
• Device market value
• Business news
• Wafer (device)

 

PLAYERS

Automotive Tier-1 suppliers and OEMs are increasingly pursuing multisourcing strategies for power semiconductors. China is steadily building independence across the value chain: mature in end-systems and in wafer/converter manufacturing but still catching up in front-end chip manufacturing. The rise of Chinese power device players is driven, among other factors, by the country’s huge domestic xEV market.

• Ecosystem / Supply chain
• Strategy / Financial analysis
• Business news

 

TECHNOLOGY

SiC remains the technology of choice for high-performance BEV traction inverters, especially in 800/1,000V vehicles, while Si-IGBT stays dominant in cost-sensitive HEV/PHEV/entry-BEV segments. GaN's near-term opportunity is concentrated in OBC and DC/DC converters, with traction-inverter adoption still constrained by high-voltage device availability and reliability validation. 

• Technology status
• Technology Roadmap

 

WHAT'S NEW

• Added information on battery trends and system integration trends.
• Focused on embedded-die technology approaches and the players involved. 
• Provided an exhaustive overview of the xEV supply chain, from OEMs, main inverter, OBC, and DC/DC converter manufacturers down to power device and wafer manufacturers.
• Included a deep dive into expected movements within the xEV supply chain.

 

REPORT'S OBJECTIVES

• Provide an overview of the primary global drivers for vehicle electrification as well as drivers for each vehicle electrification approach.
• Furnish an analysis of each vehicle electrification approach, along with 2021-2031 market data for power discrete devices and power modules (in $) and semiconductor wafers (in units).
• Give an overview of the xEV supply chain with a focus on manufacturers of semiconductor wafers (Si and SiC wafers), manufacturers of power devices, and device packaging companies.
• Provide a detailed overview of embedded die packaging approaches and the players involved.
• Analyze the latest trends in companies’ business strategies.
• Review the latest partnerships, mergers, and acquisitions.
• Give a global overview of technology trends for different power electronic devices and wafers.
   

The xEV power device market will reach $14.5B by 2031, growing at a 2025–2031 CAGR of 13.8%.

While near-term industry attention is increasingly focused on AI data centers, vehicle electrification remains a durable long-term revenue opportunity for power electronics companies. 

After a period of excitement, the xEV industry is going through a "reality check": a temporary shift toward HEVs/PHEVs in 2024-2025, while BEV volumes kept growing. 

xEV production is forecast to grow at a double-digit CAGR, reaching 69.6 million units and ~70% of global light-vehicle production by 2031. 

The market for xEV power devices will reach $14.5B by 2031, growing at a 2025-2031 CAGR of 13.8%. 

The main inverter accounts for the large majority of xEV power device revenue throughout the 2021–2031 period.

Power modules account for roughly 84% of total market value in 2025 and remain the large majority through 2031.

The market will remain dominated by silicon IGBT modules. SiC keeps displacing silicon in value share. The main inverter is the key battleground: SiC MOSFET for traction inverters is growing roughly twice as fast as IGBT. The impressive growth of the power SiC device market is driven mainly by its adoption in BEV traction inverters, with China leading the SiC-based BEV market. SiC adoption continues to expand beyond China, supported by the launch of multiple new platforms by global OEMs. However, overall market value growth is being partially offset by rapid substrate cost reductions, leading to declining ASPs.

GaN HEMT is by far the fastest-growing technology but still represents a tiny market compared with silicon and SiC devices. 

The xEV supply chain is consolidating and regionalizing around vertical integration.

OEMs, especially in China are increasingly moving traction inverter and e-axle production in-house, while established Tier-1 suppliers keep consolidating through M&A.

The OBC/DC-DC market remains largely served by independent suppliers, though some players (BYD’s FinDreams, Huawei) are integrating multiple power electronics functions into a single system.

Automotive Tier-1 suppliers and OEMs are increasingly pursuing multisourcing strategies for power semiconductors. Qualifying multiple suppliers for the same component or technology helps reduce supply-chain risk, improve resilience, and avoid dependency on a single source.

New entrants : OEMs, IDMs, OSATs, R&D labs and start-ups – keep entering the power module business, while the industry is pulled between standardized, multisourced designs and proprietary, differentiated ones.

China is steadily building independence across the value chain: mature in end-systems and in wafer/converter manufacturing but still catching up in front-end chip manufacturing. The rise of Chinese power device players is driven, among other factors, by the country’s huge domestic xEV market.

Consolidation and cross-border deal-making are accelerating: Danfoss has taken full ownership of Semikron Danfoss, Bosch/Renesas/Rohm are all reassessing their SiC manufacturing footprint amid overcapacity, and licensing/partnership deals keep multiplying as the industry shifts from technology validation to securing capacity and executing at scale.

Rising voltages, WBG adoption and deeper integration are reshaping xEV power electronics

Battery voltage evolution (400V à 800/1,000V) is the structural driver reshaping device voltage ratings, packaging, and thermal design across the whole power electronics stack.

System integration keeps accelerating – from stand-alone components to All-in-1 systems – and is starting to extend beyond the powertrain into cross-domain integration with chassis systems.

SiC remains the technology of choice for high-performance BEV traction inverters, especially in 800/1,000V vehicles, while Si-IGBT stays dominant in cost-sensitive HEV/PHEV/entry-BEV segments. GaN's near-term opportunity is concentrated in OBC and DC/DC converters, with traction-inverter adoption still constrained by high-voltage device availability and reliability validation. GaN-based OBCs using single-stage topologies are expected to represent the next major wave of GaN adoption.

Power module packaging is evolving toward lower inductance, better thermal management (double-sided cooling, Si3N4 substrates, silver sintering) and epoxy overmolding, with a "good enough" cost-driven approach gaining traction against "excellent" performance-driven designs.

Embedded-die packaging remains promising but immature: no high-voltage (≥600V) solution has yet reached mass production

Wafer technology is shifting toward larger diameters – silicon to 300mm, SiC to 200mm, GaN-on-Si to 300mm – to lower cost per die and improve manufacturing scale, even as SiC and GaN device makers work through wafer defect and yield challenges.

Intellectual Property Rights                                  

Glossary   

xEV classification and terms used in this report                                                

Scope of this report                                                

If you are looking for more information                  

Report objectives                    

Methodology and definitions                                               

About the authors                                               

Companies cited in this report                                               

ID card                 

What we got right, what we got wrong                                               

Historical forecast comparison                                               

Three-page summary                 

Executive summary                

Context                

• Electrification is a sustainable growth engine for power electronics
• Global automotive trends – Q2 2026 update
• Different periods of vehicle electrification
• On the way toward full vehicle electrification
• Power electronics industry has entered into a consolidation phase
• Impact of AI data center boom on adoption of power electronics for xEVs

Market forecast                   

• 2021 - 2031 global light vehicle production, split by xEV and ICE vehicles
• 2021 - 2031 xEV market in vehicle units, split by electrification type
• 2025 and 2031 xEV power converter market, split by converter type
• 2025 and 2031 power device market for xEV in $ million, split by device type
• 2021-2031 power device market value in $ million for xEV, split by
  • converter type 
  • package type (discrete, modules)
  • device type
  • semiconductor type (Si, SiC, GaN)
  • device voltage class
• Power device market in $ million for xEV main inverters
• Silicon wafer market for xEV power devices in kunits/y (8-inch equivalent)
• SiC wafer demand in kWafers/year for xEV (6-inch equivalent)
• Silicon wafer market in units for GaN-on-silicon devices for xEV (8-inch equivalent)

Market trends  

• xEV market overview and regional focuses
• 2025 market updates
• Market drivers and trends in xEVs
• Trend toward ‘more affordable’ vehicle
• Strong growth, changing winners: the evolving xEV power device ecosystem
• Power electronic companies adapt their application strategies

Supply chain   

• xEV supply chain structure: from semiconductor wafer to vehicle
• BEV, and HEV and PHEV OEMs
• xEV main inverter supply chain
• Inverter suppliers in China
• Global onboard charger & DC/DC converter players
• Onboard charger suppliers in China
• OEM vertical integration – global players
• Automotive-grade discrete device manufacturers – location of headquarters
• xEV power module manufacturers – location of headquarters
• Worldwide locations of xEV power module packaging facilities
• OEMs’ and system suppliers’ involvement in power module packaging
• Power module manufacturers and their module designs (global players, Chinese players)
• R&D and prototyping of power modules – main players
• xEV power modules: still growing interest in entering this market
• Power module standardization trend and its impact on the supply chain
• Power module standardization trend : who are exceptions here?
• Multisourcing strategy: easy to say, difficult to realize
• Packaging components’ suppliers for xEV modules – geographic location
• Power module and module packaging solutions suppliers, by region
• Packaging solutions suppliers for Chinese power modules players
• Embedded dies ecosystem overview
• Embedded dies players – geographic location
• 2025 silicon wafer suppliers’ market shares for silicon power devices
• 2023-2025 SiC wafer market share evolution

Partnerships, M&As and expected movements within the xEV supply chain  

• Expected silicon front-end fab/ foundry fab movements
• Foundry as a “tool” for IDMs to deal with variable market demand
• Silicon and SiC supply chains: different today, similar tomorrow?
• xEV power device supply chain - expected movements – Bosch, Semikron Danfoss, Renesas, Rohm
• xEV power device supply chain - expected movements - passive components players
• Strategic partnerships: from supply access to long-term resilience
• China’s growing independence in power electronics – in xEVs and elsewhere
• Huge domestic market in China drives partnerships with Chinese players
• Strategic deals in XEV: M&A, investments, exits, and partnerships 

Technology trends  

• Main technology trends in BEVs
• Power electronics: a strategic technology enabler in xEV 
• Battery pack and power device voltage
  • EV battery cells and battery pack
  • xEV battery pack trends
  • Low-voltage and high-voltage vehicle powernets overview
  • Low voltage powernet (12V à 48V)
  • High-voltage powernet (400V à 800V/1,000V)
  • 2021-2031 evolution of high-voltage BEV architectures
• System integration
  • Evolution of system integration in an xEV: from standalone to All-in-1
  • All-in-1 vs extended battery pack
  • Powertrain and chassis integration
• Technology trends in traction inverters
• Technology trends in onboard charger
• Technology trends in DC/DC converter
• Semiconductor technologies and devices
  • A complex choice of a power device for a power converter!
  • Power semiconductor technologies in xEVs – silicon
  • Si-IGBT and SiC-MOSFET for xEV
  • SiC technology (SiC in xEVs, cost, price and competition, SiC bare die evolution, parallelizing SiC dies)
  • Combined Si-IGBT and SiC-MOSFET solution
  • Super Junction SiC MOSFET
  • GaN technology (GaN in xEVs, GaN devices adoption in onboard chargers, Bidirectional GaN switch, GaN in traction inverters, GaN and 3-level topology)
• xEV power device packaging trends  
  • Main trends in xEV power device packaging (discretes, power modules)
  • Choice between discrete and power module
  • Discrete power devices in xEVs
  • Main development axes for xEV power modules
  • Excellent vs. good enough approach in power module packaging
  • Power module packaging components and materials
  • How to get heat out of the chip efficiently 
  • Insulated Metal Substrate as a solution?
  • High-power, small dies will require advanced cooling solutions
  • Trend toward lower stray inductance modules
  • Trend toward smaller power modules
  • EV power modules: key design trends across leading suppliers
  • Integrated power module solutions for hybrid electric vehicles
  • Shift toward epoxy overmolded power modules
  • Proprietary vs standardized power module designs
• Embedded dies  
  • Embedded dies – examples from different companies
  • SiC integration in embedded die power PCB packaging
  • GaN Integration in embedded die power PCB packaging
  • Advanced power module packaging technology roadmap
• Technology trends - wafers for power devices  

Conclusion  and Outlook

Appendix – power converter topologies

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