News: Suppliers
18 August 2021
Cree | Wolfspeed and ST expand 150mm SiC wafer supply agreement to over $800m
Cree Inc of Durham, NC, USA, which provides silicon carbide technology through its Wolfspeed business, and STMicroelectronics of Geneva, Switzerland have expanded their existing multi-year, long-term silicon carbide wafer supply agreement. The amended agreement, which calls for Cree to supply ST with 150mm silicon carbide bare and epitaxial wafers over the next several years, is now worth more than $800m.
“This latest expansion to our long-term wafer supply agreement with Cree will continue to contribute to the flexibility of our global silicon carbide substrate supply,” says STMicroelectronics’ president & CEO Jean-Marc Chery. “It will continue to contribute importantly to our global silicon carbide supply, complementing the other external capacity we have secured and the internal capacity we are ramping,” he adds. “The agreement will help meet the high volumes required by our product manufacturing operations in the next years, with a large number of automotive and industrial customer programs in high volumes or ramping up.”
The adoption of SiC-based power solutions is rapidly growing across the automotive market as the industry moves 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, notes Cree. In the industrial market, silicon carbide solutions enable smaller, lighter and more cost-effective designs, converting energy more efficiently to unlock new clean energy applications. To better support these growing markets, device manufacturers are interested in securing access to high-quality silicon carbide substrates to support their customers.
“STMicroelectronics will continue to leverage Wolfspeed silicon carbide materials as part of their supply strategy for the next several years,” says Cree’s CEO Gregg Lowe. “Our long-term wafer supply agreements with device manufacturers now total more than $1.3bn and help support our efforts to drive the industry transition from silicon to silicon carbide,” he adds. “Our partnerships and significant investments in increased production capacity ensure we are well positioned to capitalize on what we believe to be is a multi-decade growth opportunity for SiC-based applications.”
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Cree and ST expand and extend silicon carbide wafer supply agreement
Cree Wolfspeed STMicroelectronics SiC substrates Power electronics
