At present, the semiconductor industry is still in the down cycle, the chip industry is generally facing the pressure of customers cutting orders and falling product prices, but IGBT is in the two mainstream applications of electric vehicles and solar photovoltaic demand, the mad rush of goods, the recent shortage of large, not only the price has risen to the sky, the industry is not “how high the price of the problem, but simply cannot buy” to describe the shortage situation.
IGBT is the only category of semiconductor components that has been able to increase its price and outstrip the demand all the way, mainly because of the limited supply of products at this stage, but the crazy construction of solar power plants, their inverters have a huge demand for IGBTs, coupled with the high demand for IGBTs in electric vehicles, the major car manufacturers have frequently snapped them up.
It is reported that IGBT is a power switching element, with the reputation of “power electronics CPU”, is a voltage driven semiconductor power element composed of BJT (bipolar junction transistor) and MOSFET (gold oxygen half field effect transistor), with the advantages of high input impedance, high withstand voltage and low on-state voltage drop.
With the rise of new energy vehicles, the demand for high voltage has increased greatly, and IGBTs have become the focus of industrial development. The number of IGBTs used in an electric vehicle is as high as hundreds, which is seven to ten times that of traditional fuel vehicles. In industrial applications, there are AC servo motors, inverters, wind and solar power generation and other green power applications, and in the high voltage segment, there are high-speed railroads and other rail transportation and power grid applications.
As for the application of IGBTs in the solar field, it is in the inverter. As a power conversion device, the inverter can convert the power stored in the solar panel to the generally available electricity, without the inverter, the power plant cannot function and has a pivotal position in the construction of solar power plants.
The solar industry pointed out that with the increasing evolution of solar module power generation efficiency, high power module has been the mainstream market trend, and can effectively improve the return on investment of power plant operators, so many solar inverters will now import IGBT as a power component, the demand has also begun to flourish.
Talking about how short of IGBT? Moody’s Chairman Ye Zhengxian bluntly said that the price increase is not a new thing, not the problem of high prices, but simply cannot buy, the study concluded that the wave of shortage will continue for a while.
In addition, according to the supply chain, Hanlei increased the foundry price of IGBT production line by about 10% earlier this year, and when the wafer foundry offer was generally adjusted back, Hanlei increased the price against the trend, highlighting the hot market conditions.
According to the “2023 Q1 Chip Market Report” data released by Future Electronics on February 17, 2023, the IGBT Q1 of ST (STMicroelectronics), Microsemi, Infineon, IXYS and Fairchild (Fairchild Semiconductor), the five major brands, remain basically the same as the delivery period of 2022 Q4, with the delivery period remaining tight at 54 weeks at the longest.
Specifically, in the first quarter of 2023, ST’s IGBT lead time is 47-52 weeks, Microsemi’s IGBT lead time is 42-52 weeks, IXYS’s IGBT lead time is 50-54 weeks, Infineon’s IGBT lead time is 39-50 weeks, and Fairchild’s IGBT lead time is 39-52 weeks. However, the shipment trends and price trends of these 5 major brands are stable, with no upward trend.
Industry analysis, there are two main reasons for the large shortage of IGBTs, the first is the current proportion of solar inverters using IGBTs has increased significantly. The second is that the semiconductor industry is currently in the adjustment period, not only is the capacity limited, but also much of the capacity has been taken away by electric vehicle factories, resulting in a large shortage of IGBTs under the crowding out effect.
Post time: Mar-22-2023