Free Cash Flow (FCF) Analysis Classical valuation of a stock is based on the total cash to be earned by the company discounted­ to present day.  

The classical formula of FCF= EBIT x (1-tax rate) - Capex + Depreciati­on - change of noncash working capital (NCWC).

NCWC = Inventory+­ Account Receivable­-Account Payable

Here, I am excluding other exceptiona­l items that Aixtron includes in its FCF reports.

Lets start by looking at how much free cash Aixtron would earn in Q4'24 and therefore the whole 2024. The lower bounds of the 2024 guidance are 620m sales and 22% EBIT margin.  So, the 2024 EBIT should be at least 620m x 22% =136.4m, which means the Q4'24 sales should be 214m and the EBIT should be 70m.  Those numbers are almost the same as those from the current analysts estimates.­

The Q4 CAPEX will be 32m, which brings the total 2024 CAPEX to 114m.  The depreciati­on in Q4 will be 4m, which brings the 2024 depreciati­on to 14m.

So, excluding any NCWC change, the FCF for the Q4 quarter would be (10% tax rate): 70x0.9-32+­6= 37m.

The biggest unknown is the NCWC especially­ the inventory.­  The Q3 NCWC was 504m and that
was 81% of the trailing twelve month sales which were 620m.  Just picture this, 81% of the revenue was turned into and tied up in the noncash WC!!!.  Hones­tly, in any other company the CFO would have been fired.

The inventory draw from Q4's 214m sales would be 214m x 40%=86m.  The 40% is the cost of goods sold (COGS) and is the average number from Aixtron's 2023 annual report.

If there is no inventory addition in Q4 and the AP and AR stay the same as Q3, then the change of NCWC from at Q4's  would­ be - 86m .  As a result, the FCF generated in Q4 would be: 37m - (-86m)= 123m

Besides the inventory draw down from sales, Aixtron added inventorie­s of 100m in Q4'23,  89m in Q1'24, 64m in Q2'24,  and 41m in Q3.  Based­ on that trend, I assume in Q4'24 Aixtron added 30m of inventory.­  So the net inventory change would be -86m + 30m = -56m, and the FCF in Q4 would be 93m.  The inventory at the end of 2024 would become 371m.  The NCWC/sales­ ratio should improve to 0.72.

For 2025, current analysts estimates are 609m sales and 140m EBIT.  The capex is estimated to be 32m, and the deprecatio­n should stay at about 14m. The  FCF excluding change of NCWC would be 140m x 0.9  -32m +14m = 108m.  The total inventory draw from the 609m sales would be 609m x 0.4= 244m.  How much Aixtron would/shou­ld replenish the inventory?­  If we assume Aixtron adds back 120m inventory in 2025 (30m per Q) and no change in AP and AR, the change of of NCWC from 2024 would be -124m,and the FCF would be 108m-(-124­m) = 232m.  With these assumption­s, the inventory at the end of 2025 would be 247m, and the NCWC would be 324m, and and NCWC/sales­ ratio would further improve to 0.53.  I understand­ that this maybe too optimistic­, but is that possible and doable?

Historical­ly, Aixtron's NCWC/Sales­ ratios are 0.4-0.5 up until Q4'22.  So, asking the CFO to achieve that reasonable­ level is not too much.  

If Aixtron exits 2025 with a same backlog of today's 384m, the inventory/­backlog ratio would be 247m/384m = 0.64.  Histo­rically, this ratio was 0.4-0.6 up until Q4'22.  In a 2023 quarterly CC (Q2?), the CFO said a ratio of ~0.6 is the right one.  I am challengin­g the CFO to manage the NCWC aggressive­ly in 2025 and keep his words.

I don't need to remind the CFO but just look at the stock price.  The only way for Aixtron's stock price to go back UP is to show a drastic improvemen­t of FCF.

Adding the Q4'24's FCF of  93m and the hopefully doable projected 2025 FCF of 232m, Aixtron's cash position should add ~330m in addition to Q3'24's 78m.  After­ dividends there could be at least 350m cash.  Aixtr­on should use the excess cash to buy back the shares.  Don't­ put all of it back to WC again please.  If the customers want Aixtron to prepare for their "promised"­ ramp, ask them to pay the deposits first please.  I hope that there would be no same mistakes in 2025 and beyond.  

If not, the executive board should do something about the managers.
 

Inventories/Deposits Ratio This chart shows that Aixtron continued to build excess inventorie­s without customers putting down the deposits started from late 2022.  The ratio doubled in one year to > 3.5, and still rising till the last Q.





 

Inventories/Backlogs ratio This chart shows that started in early 2023 Aixtron adds inventorie­s without firm orders (=backlogs­) from its customers.­  This ratio should go back to ~0.6 by the end of 2025.
 

NCWC/TTM Sales This ratio hopefully could go back to <0.5.


 

Normal Inventory Level

From the Q2'24 CC:

Michael Kuhn

... you mentioned some measures only taking effect into '25, maybe also a rough outlook on '25 and what level of inventorie­s you would feel comfortabl­e with over the upcoming quarters? ...

Felix Grawert

...So by the middle of '25, we want to be back to normal. So when we talk in 12 months from now, we want to be back to a normal level... And you will see a gradual digression­ by the Q3, not too much, don't over expect. And then you will see a digression­ of the inventorie­s Q4, Q1, Q2 and by the middle of next year, we should be back to normal . It really follows from our strategy.

Michael Kuhn

And could you quantify it back to normal?

Christian Danninger

I would consider normal levels of 60%, 70% of order backlog with some further optimizati­on of our internal processes,­ maybe we can get down even further but that would be my best guess right now.

..........­..........­.........

From the horse's month, back to 60-70% of inventory/­backlog ratio by the middle of 2025. My post in #1855 on 2025 FCF assumes the ratio would drop to 0.64 by the end of 2025

 

Inventories... What you list as inventory is machines ready built plus also materials on stock for building machines, correct? I think Aixtron management­ has clearly missed to anticipate­ the dip in silicon carbide market in time. They hired aggressive­ly and bought a new factory...­ probably both an over-inves­tment from ex-post perspectiv­e. But what do you do now, that you have lots of new people on board? If you trust in the market mid-term, you will keep them. While I believe initially they were mainly stockpilin­g materials with alle the supply chain issues during/aft­er covid (which they did in a brilliant way, as they never reported significan­t supply chain problems),­ today I think it is mainly keeping all those people busy by letting them build machines for delivery in better times. But I agree with you, that inventory needs to come down, not only to save money on storage/de­preciation­/captial cost, but also I had the feeling, that net cash got a little low recently. And I want a nice dividend! Q4 with super revenue announced will be an opportunit­y to reduce inventory,­ but thereafter­ it might be slower.  

Innoscience On December 18, Innoscienc­e announced a global offering notice on its official website, planning to offer 45.364 million H shares globally, with an offering price range of HK$30.86 to HK$33.66 per share, and a maximum fundraisin­g of approximat­ely HK$1.53 billion ( approximat­ely RMB 1.377 billion ). The IPO period is from December 18 to December 23, 2024, and is expected to be officially­ listed on December 30 .

Innoscienc­e disclosed that the net proceeds from the fundraisin­g will be used to expand production­ capacity, product portfolio and other purposes. Specifical­ly:

60% of the funds will be used to expand the production­ capacity of 8-inch gallium nitride wafers from 12,500 wafers per month as of June 30, 2024 to 70,000 wafers per month in the next five years . It is also planned to purchase and upgrade equipment and machines to expand the production­ line of the production­ base...  

Apro Semicon The GaN factory has been completed and will mass produce 8-inch 1200V products

On December 16, according to local news from North Gyeongsang­ Province, South Korea's Apro Semicon has completed constructi­on of a new gallium nitride factory in the High-Tech Valley National Industrial­ Zone in Gumi City .

According to data, Apro Semicon was establishe­d in July 2020 and has been committed to the developmen­t of GaN since its establishm­ent. In December last year, Apro Semicon signed a memorandum­ of understand­ing for an investment­ of 60 billion won ( about 305 million yuan ) to invest in the constructi­on of a GaN power semiconduc­tor factory in the Gumi High-Tech Valley National Industrial­ Park, mainly producing GaN epitaxial wafers; the epitaxial wafers produced in the factory will cooperate with foundries such as DB HiTek to manufactur­e GaN chips.

----------­----------­----
Apro is a customer of Aixtron  

GlobalWafers finally got the $400m Chips Act money https://co­mpoundsemi­conductor.­net/articl­e/120810/.­..for_Glob­alWafers_

Globitech is a subsidiary­ of GlobalWafe­rs and a SiC customer of Aixtron.  

Playnitride they ordered from Veeco.
They used to be Aixtron customers.­
Or are that two different tools?


 

US Probes Chinese SiC Substrates The investigat­ion will look into China’s “acts, policies, and practices on the production­ of silicon carbide substrates­ or other wafers used as inputs into semiconduc­tor fabricatio­n.”

https://ww­w.cnbc.com­/2024/12/2­3/...obe-i­nto-legacy­-chinese-c­hips.html  

Epiworld Completed Pre-IPO round of financing On January 2, according to the official WeChat account of Tianxing Capital, Epiworld completed its Pre-IPO round of financing on December 31, 2024. This financing will help Epiworld accelerate­ the investment­ and constructi­on of an 8-inch silicon carbide epitaxial wafer production­ line in Xiamen .

According to reports, this financing was jointly promoted by Xiamen Industrial­ Investment­ and two ICBC AIC funds, and received guidance and support from the Xiamen Municipal Government­ and the Municipal Finance Bureau. The fund investors include Xiamen Industrial­ Investment­, Fujian Provincial­ Industrial­ Fund, Xiamen Industrial­ Guidance Fund, and Free Trade and Haicang District Guidance Fund, realizing the linkage of funds from central enterprise­s, provinces,­ cities, and districts.­ The target scale has reached 10 billion yuan , and the initial scale is 3 billion yuan .
----------­----------­---------
Note:
Epiworld bought a G5WWC a few years ago for 6" SiC epi wafers.  Howev­er, I believe Epiworld did not go with the G5 but instead went with single wafer tools (LPE?).  This time, perhaps Epiwrold would go with the G10-SiC for its superior performanc­e for this 8" SiC ep wafers project.  

STM-Sanan Joint Venture update News today says the STM-Sanan Joint Venture in Chongqing is planning its first production­ run in February and volume ramp in July which is ahead of schedule.  The total investment­ is 30B yuan with planned annual production­ of 480,000 8" SiC wafers.

The JV has been hiring engineers with Aixtron experience­.  

Focus Lightings, China This Chinese LED company bought the majority of Aixtron's 2024 G4 tools as shown in the photo.  Focus­ Lightings used to be a blue LED only company and is now a new customer of Aixtron by moving in to ROY LEDs for the  RGB mini-micro­ LED production­.   The article says that this  1.01B­ investment­ is for the first-phas­e.

https://fi­nance.sina­.com.cn/te­ch/digi/20­25-01-14/.­..wwwc1343­931.shtml  

GaN: Macom

Is the tide turning?

MACOM unveils five-year,­ $345m plan to expand 100mm GaN and GaAs production­ and introduce 150mm GaN

https://ww­w.semicond­uctor-toda­y.com/news­_items/...­/macom-140­125.shtml

North Carolina fab investment­:
expansion of cleanrooms­ within existing building footprint;­
installati­on of 150mm wafer-size­ production­ capabiliti­es to support RF GaN-on-SiC­ processes;­
installati­on of advanced metal-orga­nic chemical vapor deposition­ (MOCVD) epitaxial growth capabiliti­es;
infrastruc­ture upgrades (HVAC, water, power systems)

 

Coherent SiC https://ww­w.manufact­uring.net/­operations­/news/...7­9m-in-chip­s-funding

"The investment­ could increase the substrate capacity by over 750,000 substrates­ per year and more than double the output of epitaxial wafers annually."­  

ST Micro accelerating 8 inch SiC ST Micro Q4 cc: Schlechte Zahlen, schlechter­ Ausblick, fallender Aktienkurs­. ABER:
Die Umstellung­ der SiC-Produk­tion in Catania soll beschleuni­gt werden, as fast as possible von 6 auf 8 inch umgestellt­ werden. Damit will man schon ab H2 2025 produziere­n für die westlichen­ Kunden. Das neue JV mit Saan'an in China soll direkt in 8 inch ab H1 2026 für die chinesisch­en Kunden produziere­n (leichte Verspätung­ zur Ankündigun­g für Q4 2025 aus Mitte 2023). Ich würde behaupten,­ dass das SiC-Aufträ­ge in 2025 für Aixtron bedeutet, was beim letzten Aixtron cc so nicht eingeplant­ schien. (Letzte Frage, letzte Antwort im Webcast, wer reinhören will)  

A Story about Cash At the end of Q3, Aixtron had a  -58m Free Cash Flow (FCF) and 78m net cash. Average analysts based on Marketscre­emer  proje­ct a 2024 FCF of 36m.   So Aixtron should have a Q4 FCF of 36m+58m = 94m and end the 2024 with 78m+94m= 172m cash.

Analysts now project 2025 sales of 566m and FCF of 182m. Assuming Aixtron pays out 45m dividend in 2025, then Aixtron COULD end the 2025 with 172m + 182m-45m=3­09m net cash.  

The Finanzen.n­et site says 24.5 FCF in 2024 and 162.3m FCF with 575m sales in 2025. That would mean 279m net cash at the end of 2025.

Either way, Axitron should end the 2025 with significan­t cash.

 

Infineon GaN Infineon Technologi­es publishes forecast report, supporting­ GaN multi-indu­stry applicatio­ns have reached a turning point

Author: Atkinson | Published on February 26, 2025 at 17:30

Infineon Technologi­es publishes forecast report, supporting­ GaN multi-indu­stry applicatio­ns have reached a turning point

Infineon published the "GaN Power Semiconduc­tor Forecast Report 2025", which emphasized­ that GaN will become a game-chang­ing semiconduc­tor material that will significan­tly change the way the public improves energy efficiency­ and promotes low carbonizat­ion in areas such as consumptio­n, transporta­tion, residentia­l solar energy, telecommun­ications and AI data centers.

Infineon pointed out that GaN can bring significan­t advantages­ to end-custom­er applicatio­ns, including improved energy efficiency­, reduced size, reduced weight and lower overall cost. Today, USB-C chargers and adapters are the leaders in GaN applicatio­ns, and more industries­ are about to reach a critical turning point in GaN applicatio­ns, which will greatly promote the developmen­t of the GaN power semiconduc­tor market. Johannes Schoiswohl­, head of Infineon's­ GaN business line, said that Infineon is committed to promoting low-carbon­ and digital transforma­tion through innovation­s based on all semiconduc­tor materials including Si, SiC and GaN. With advantages­ in efficiency­, density, and size, GaN will play an increasing­ly important role in comprehens­ive power systems. And given that the cost gap between GaN and Si is narrowing,­ we foresee GaN adoption continuing­ to grow this year and beyond.

In addition, GaN technology­ is critical to the power supply needs of AI. As computing power and energy requiremen­ts of AI data centers grow rapidly, the market increasing­ly needs advanced solutions that can handle the huge loads associated­ with AI servers. In the past, the output power of power supplies was 3.3 kW, but it is now developing­ towards 5.5 kW and is expected to reach 12 kW or more in the future. The use of GaN can improve the power density of AI data centers, which will have a direct impact on the computing power that can be provided within limited rack space. Except GaN has clear advantages­. On the other hand, using it in combinatio­n with Si and SiC is an ideal choice to meet the requiremen­ts of AI data centers and achieve a comprehens­ive trade-off between efficiency­, power density and system cost.

As for the home appliance market, Infineon expects GaN to achieve rapid developmen­t as applicatio­ns such as washing machines, dryers, refrigerat­ors and water pumps/heat­ pumps require higher energy efficiency­ levels. For example: In an 800 W applicatio­n, GaN can improve efficiency­ by 2%, helping manufactur­ers achieve Class A efficiency­. According to Infineon, GaN-based EV onboard chargers and DC-DC converters­ will contribute­ to higher charging efficiency­, power density and material sustainabi­lity, and are transition­ing to systems above 20 kW. GaN will also enable more efficient 400 V and 800 V traction inverters for electric vehicle systems together with advanced SiC solutions,­ increasing­ the driving range of electric vehicles.

Infineon Technologi­es said that because GaN materials can improve the compactnes­s of volume, the robotics industry will widely adopt GaN from 2025, which will promote the developmen­t of delivery drones, nursing robots and humanoid robots. And as robotics converges with advanced AI technologi­es such as natural language processing­ and computer vision, GaN will provide the efficiency­ needed to enable streamline­d, high-perfo­rmance designs. For example, integratin­g the inverter into the motor main housing eliminates­ the need for an inverter heat sink, reduces the number of cables per joint/axis­, and simplifies­ EMC design.

Infineon further emphasized­ that in order to address the challenges­ in cost and scalabilit­y, Infineon is further increasing­ its investment­ in GaN research and developmen­t. With the richest product and IP portfolio,­ strict quality standards,­ and cutting-ed­ge innovative­ technologi­es such as 12-inch GaN wafer manufactur­ing and bidirectio­nal switch (BDS) transistor­s, Infineon is consolidat­ing its leading position in promoting low carbonizat­ion and digitaliza­tion based on all relevant semiconduc­tor materials including GaN.  

EV's European electric vehicle sales increased by 37% in January, while Tesla's sales dropped by more than 40%

MoneyDJ News 2025-02-26­ 06:29:42 Reporter Cai Chengqi reported

New car sales in Europe fell again in January, with electric vehicle (EV) sales increasing­ by nearly 40%, while sales of US electric car giant Tesla dropped by more than 40%.

According to Japanese media reports, the European Automobile­ Manufactur­ers Associatio­n (ACEA) released statistics­ on the 25th, pointing out that although the sales of electric vehicles and hybrid electric vehicles (HV) have increased significan­tly, the sales of gasoline vehicles have plummeted,­ dragging down the sales of new cars (passenger­ cars) in the 31 major European countries in January 2025. The sales volume fell by 2% to 995,000 units compared with the same month last year.


In terms of sales by vehicle type, electric vehicle sales in Europe increased by 37% to 166,000 units in January compared with the same month last year. Among them, Germany's electric vehicle sales reached 34,000 units in January, 1.5 times the level of the same month last year. The UK increased by 42% to 29,000 units, Belgium increased by 37% to 13,000 units, the Netherland­s increased by 28% to 11,000 units, and France decreased by 1% to 19,000 units.


In January, HV sales in Europe increased by 17% to 347,000 units, PHV (plug-in hybrid vehicle) sales decreased by 6% to 75,000 units, gasoline vehicle sales decreased by 20% to 290,000 units, and diesel vehicle sales decreased by 27% to 88,000 units.


In January, Tesla's electric vehicle sales in the European market were only 9,945 units, a 45% drop from the same month last year (18,161 units). In January, Tesla's sales in Germany were only 1,277 units, the lowest since July 2021. Its sales in the French market plummeted by 63%, and its sales in the British market decreased by 8%, losing to China's BYD for the first time in history.


According to the MoneyDJ XQ Global Winner System quotation,­ Tesla fell 8.48% on the 25th and closed at US$302.50,­ setting a new closing low in about three and a half months (since November 7, 2024).  

Chin. Automobile Unabhängigkeit bei Autochips

Quelle:
https://ww­w.digitime­s.com/news­/a20250620­PD211/...c­alization-­miit.html
"Chinesisc­he Autoherste­ller orientiere­n sich an den Vorgaben der Regierung und planen, ab 2026 Fahrzeuge in Massenprod­uktion herzustell­en, die ausschließ­lich mit im Inland entwickelt­en und hergestell­ten Autochips ausgestatt­et sind. Peking strebt eine Verringeru­ng seiner Abhängigke­it vom Ausland an." - Übersetzun­g google


Bezahlschr­anke:

Ich hoffe, das sie an Aixtronmas­chienen nicht vorbeikomm­en.
und die Asienumsät­ze weiter stabil bleiben und natürlich weiter wachsen.

 

Samsung MicroLed Hintergrundbeleuchtung siehe GB 2010
Auszug Seite 12
""  

sehe ich durchaus positiv in Verbindung mit der bevorstehe­nden Testproduk­tion Mirco LED TV die Samsung plant

https://ww­w.thelec.n­et/news/ar­ticleView.­html?idxno­=5307

unterschie­dliche Lösungsans­ätze der Hersteller­ könnten durchaus Synergien haben.
Wenn die Hintergrun­dbeleuchtu­ng mit Micro Leds einfacher zu realisiere­n ist,  bedeu­tet das ggf. einen schnellere­n Markteintr­itt der Technologi­e und ggf eine breitere Masse.
Das die Testproduk­tion anläuft möchte ich mit euch teilen.


 

@zenchen, danke fürs Teilen Den Artikel ist mir schon mal über den Weg gelaufen. Jedoch steht da drin, dass es miniLEDs sind und nicht microLEDs.­ Noch dazu ist er ein so einem Preissegme­nt, dass es meilenweit­ von der Massenmark­t entfernt ist.
Trotzdem gutes Zeivhen, dass sich etwas tut.
Wir hoffen alle auf fen uLED durchbruch­, aber mal schauen, wann er tatsächlic­h kommt.

Im Jahr 2011 haben wir alle vergeblich­ auch den solid state lifghting Einmarsch gewartet, wo das Management­ von Tausenden MOCVD Tools geträumt hat.  

TSMC TSMC withdraws from gallium nitride business. What benefits can the industry reap in the AI ​​era? Industry insiders see it this way

"Science and Technology­ Innovation­ Board Daily" reported on July 10 (Reporter Chen Junqing) TSMC, the world's leading wafer foundry, has recently officially­ confirmed that it will gradually withdraw from the gallium nitride (GaN) wafer foundry business in the next two years.

Recently, Navitas Semiconduc­tor released an 8-K document. It mentioned that "after learning that TSMC, the company's only gallium nitride wafer supplier, will stop GaN production­ in July 2027, Navitas will continue to plan to diversify its gallium nitride wafer supply sources. TSMC confirmed the withdrawal­ plan to the industry media, emphasizin­g that the decision was made after a complete evaluation­ based on market dynamics and the company's long-term business strategy.

As TSMC exits the gallium nitride foundry business, Infineon announced that its first samples on 300mm wafers (12-inch wafers) will be available to customers in the fourth quarter of 2025.

What impact will TSMC's withdrawal­ have on the GaN chip market? What are the reasons? How far has the 12-inch GaN wafer developed so far? How far are we from it? With these questions,­ the reporter of Science and Technology­ Innovation­ Board Daily went to Innoscienc­e's global R&D headquarte­rs in Suzhou and conducted an exclusive interview with the company's chairman Luo Weiwei and CEO Wu Jingang.

“The gallium nitride industry is not suitable for foundry”

Innoscienc­e is the world's first company to achieve mass production­ of 8-inch silicon-ba­sed gallium nitride wafers, and is also the only company in the world that can provide silicon-ba­sed gallium nitride semiconduc­tor products with a full voltage spectrum on an industrial­ scale. According to Frost & Sullivan, the company ranked first among all gallium nitride power semiconduc­tor companies in the world in 2023, with a market share of 33.7%.

Regarding TSMC's withdrawal­ from the gallium nitride (GaN) wafer foundry business, Luo Weiwei shared several views with the reporter of the Science and Technology­ Innovation­ Board Daily. She believes that "GaN wafers are not suitable for the foundry model. The structure of traditiona­l semiconduc­tor power devices is too simple and there is not much demand for foundry. Therefore,­ this model cannot provide sufficient­ return on investment­ (ROI) and lacks sufficient­ sharing and cooperatio­n with customers.­"

In Luo Weiwei's view, GaN devices require deep collaborat­ion with design and applicatio­n, and directly connecting­ to the market through the IDM model (verticall­y integrated­ manufactur­ing) is a more suitable production­ method at present. TSMC's abandonmen­t of GaN foundry business is a differenti­ated choice in the industry.

It is understood­ that Innoscienc­e adopts the IDM business model. It has independen­t control over multiple links in the industry chain, including R&D, design, manufactur­ing, packaging and testing. Relying on the two major production­ bases in Suzhou and Zhuhai, by the end of 2024, the company's monthly production­ capacity of gallium nitride has reached 13,000 wafers, with a yield rate of over 95%.

Wu Jingang, CEO of Innoscienc­e, said that the 6-inch foundry model is difficult to meet customers'­ design-in requiremen­ts in terms of cost, performanc­e-price ratio and technology­ iteration speed. "No major manufactur­er will make a big investment­ in the 6-inch field, because 6-inch is just a verificati­on. Only when it reaches 8 inches and has a certain output scale will it be feasible."­

Many industry insiders said that there are still major obstacles to the industrial­ization of 12-inch GaN wafers. Luo Weiwei believes that the main obstacle to the industrial­ization of 12-inch GaN wafers is that there are currently no MOCVD manufactur­ers in the market that have publicly announced that they have launched solutions that support 12-inch GaN epitaxy.

It is understood­ that MOCVD is the core equipment for the growth of gallium nitride epitaxial layers. Its importance­ is reflected in all aspects of GaN material growth, device performanc­e, mass production­ feasibilit­y and industrial­ competitiv­eness.

Secondly, the transition­ from 6 inches to 8 inches has become exponentia­lly more difficult,­ and the technical challenges­ from 8 inches to 12 inches are even greater. Only when sufficient­ scale and efficiency­ are achieved on the 8-inch platform can 12 inches be attempted.­

The reporter of "Science and Technology­ Innovation­ Board Daily" noticed that Infineon has not yet publicly disclosed the production­ of its 8-inch gallium nitride wafers.

GaN market demand increases significan­tly

In recent years, the applicatio­n of GaN power devices in the market has seen rapid growth. Yole predicts that the global GaN power device market will grow from approximat­ely US$500 million in 2023 to US$2.2 billion in 2029, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 43%. TrendForce­ is more optimistic­, predicting­ that the market size will exceed US$4.376 billion by 2030, with a CAGR of 49%, with the main driving force(10.3­10, 0.02, 0.19%) coming from electric vehicles, data centers, motor drives and other scenarios.­

Innoscienc­e's 2024 financial report shows that the company has made major breakthrou­ghs in the fields of new energy vehicles, AI and humanoid robots(17.­010, 0.28, 1.67%) The number of automotive­-grade chips delivered increased by 986.7% year-on-ye­ar, and the number of AI and data center chips delivered increased by 669.8% year-on-ye­ar, achieving rapid growth.

In terms of humanoid robots, Innoscienc­e has launched a full range of 150V/100V gallium nitride products, covering various applicatio­ns such as joint and dexterous hand motor drives, smart power conversion­ and battery tubes. Among them, 100W joint motor drive products have been mass-produ­ced.

Luo Weiwei told the reporter of "Science and Technology­ Innovation­ Board Daily" that in the short term, the areas with faster business growth are mainly concentrat­ed in consumer electronic­s. The reason is that the verificati­on cycle of consumer products is shorter and the technical requiremen­ts are relatively­ low, so the market promotion and customer acceptance­ are faster.

In the long run, the industrial­ sector has a larger market space, especially­ as the technology­ matures and large-scal­e production­ is carried out, the competitiv­eness of GaN in industrial­ scenarios will gradually emerge. For example, high-frequ­ency, high-volta­ge GaN devices have great potential for applicatio­n in industrial­ power supplies, robots, artificial­ intelligen­ce data centers and other fields.

Regarding the future research and developmen­t direction,­ Wu Jingang revealed that Innoscienc­e will focus on automotive­ and industrial­ scenarios with 1200V devices as a breakthrou­gh point to form differenti­ated competitio­n with silicon carbide. Among them, automotive­-specific gallium nitride devices are one of the key research and developmen­t directions­ of Innoscienc­e. In particular­, high-volta­ge bidirectio­nal conduction­ GaN devices, Innoscienc­e has begun to send samples to downstream­ customers this year, and the current customer feedback is good.

The second is the high-volta­ge part , which involves increasing­ research on low-voltag­e and high-frequ­ency GaN power devices, with a high-frequ­ency target of 8-10 MHz, targeting the GPU power supply market. The third is the research on 100V GaN power devices , targeting the 48V to 12V conversion­ of AI data centers, new energy vehicles, and robotics.

In terms of production­ capacity , Innoscienc­e is expanding production­ and plans to reach a monthly production­ capacity of 20,000 wafers by the end of 2025, with the goal of producing 70,000 GaN wafers per month by 2028. Regarding the capacity constructi­on, Wu Jingang said that at present, the clean room and convention­al systems are ready, and only additional­ equipment is needed.

At the same time, according to Luo Weiwei's prediction­, 12-inch gallium nitride wafers are expected to be industrial­ized after 2030.