Cree and ST expand and extend silicon carbide wafer supply agreement

Cree Inc of Durham, NC, USA and STMicroelectronics of Geneva, Switzerland have announced the expansion and extension of an existing multi-year, long-term silicon carbide wafer supply agreement (signed in January) to more than $500m.

The extended agreement is a doubling in value of the original agreement for the supply of Cree’s 150mm-diameter silicon carbide bare and epitaxial wafers to ST over the next several years. The firms says that the increased wafer supply enables them to address the rapidly growing demand for silicon carbide power devices globally, particularly in automotive and industrial applications.

“Expanding our long-term wafer supply agreement with Cree will increase the flexibility of our global silicon carbide substrate supply,” says STMicroelectronics’ president & CEO Jean-Marc Chery. “It will further contribute to securing the required volume of substrate we need to manufacture our silicon carbide-based products as we ramp up production over the next years for the increasing number of programs won at automotive and industrial customers,” he adds.

“Silicon carbide delivers performance enhancements that are critical to electric vehicles (EVs) and a host of next-generation industrial solutions for solar, energy storage and uninterruptible power systems (UPS),” says Cree’s CEO Gregg Lowe. “Cree remains committed to leading the semiconductor industry’s transition from silicon to silicon carbide, and the extension of the agreement with ST ensures we are able to meet the accelerating, global demand for this solution across a diverse range of applications while accelerating the market.”

Cree notes that the adoption of silicon carbide-based power solutions is rapidly growing across the automotive market as the industry seeks to accelerate its move from internal combustion engines to electric vehicles, enabling greater system efficiencies that result in electric cars with longer range and faster charging, while reducing cost, lowering weight and conserving space. In the industrial market, silicon carbide modules enable smaller, lighter and more cost-effective inverters, converting energy more efficiently, the firm adds.

See related items:

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Cree and ST sign multi-year SiC wafer supply agreement

Tags: Cree SiC substrates STMicroelectronics Power electronics

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Visit: www.st.com