Aixtron purpose of this thread

At present, GaN is relatively popular in consumer applications such as charging and fast charging, and is gradually being introduced into industrial fields such as data centers, as well as in the application of electric vehicles. The future market space is unlimited. According to Yolo's data, the gallium nitride power device market in 2020 It is about 46 million U.S. dollars and is expected to grow to 1.1 billion U.S. dollars by 2026, with a compound annual growth rate of 69%.

After being brought into fire by fast charging, GaN applications began to expand to data centers, electric vehicles and other fields.

At the silicon-based gallium nitride industry development summit held by Innocent Technology not long ago, Yang Jianrong, deputy general manager of Aiji Micro, said that In the 1990s, some companies and institutions actually started to develop GaN products. However, until 2008, Toyota announced that it was preparing to use GaN and SiC in automobiles, which started to ignite the upsurge of compound semiconductors, and the development of GaN has also risen sharply. When it reached its apex around 2012, EPC released low-voltage GaN power devices, Transpherm released high-voltage GaN power devices, TSMC also released 6-inch GaN foundries, and IMEC released 8-inch silicon-based GaN technology. Many companies have entered this market.

However, because GaN has very high requirements for power, epitaxy, etc., at that time, the stability and ecology of GaN power devices were not fully developed. Later, the development declined greatly. In fact, there were some actions at this stage. Around 2014, Infineon After acquiring IR, Navitas launched 600V GaN chips around 2015. At the end of 2015, this wave of GaN development fell to the bottom.

However, GaN is still considered to be a technology with great potential. Innosys Technology was established at the bottom of the valley in 2015. After several years of slow development, it will not be until February 2020 that the Xiaomi Mi 10 launch conference will use GaN chargers. In September of the same year, the country included GaN in the 14th Five-Year Plan. In April of this year, IMEC also announced the launch of silicon-based GaN epitaxial wafers that can reach 1200V. The GaN industry is on the eve of its explosion.

The application scenarios of power GaN mainly include consumer, industrial and electric vehicles. Consumer products are mainly ultra-small power adapters. In addition, GaN can be used in notebooks and mobile phones. For example, more than 10 DC-DCs may be used in mobile phones. Power devices including all these can be converted into GaN. ; Industrial products have now begun to be used in servers, power supplies, photovoltaics and other products; applications on electric vehicles have also begun to increase, including OBC, DC-DC, etc.

At present, there are relatively many applications of 650V. For example, charging heads. Products around 900V are slowly being adopted. The last IMEC also introduced 1200V GaN epitaxial wafers, indicating that the scope of application of GaN is continuously expanding.
At present, fast charging can be said to be the most well-known application product of GaN. At the Hong Kong Electronics Show in April 2019, there were 8 new gallium nitride chargers exhibited. In February 2020, the Xiaomi 10 launch conference, Lei Jun showed gallium nitride Technology, the introduction of 65W fast charging, directly boosted the popularity of gallium nitride fast charging, and the popularity of gallium nitride fast charging has also penetrated into the hearts of consumers. According to statistics, as of the end of last month, nearly 20 models of 30W GaN chargers have been launched in China, which means that GaN has begun to spread to the low-end. This indicates that GaN has basically opened up the fast charging market.

The application of GaN in the data center can be said to be quite advantageous. The traditional Si power supply cabinet requires almost 10 power supplies and 30 services, while GaN power supplies are not only small because of their high energy density, but 6 power supplies can drive 34 servers. The data center’s original site cost is very high. If the energy density can be increased, more space can be left for servers, which not only solves the cost problem, but also saves money. The application of GaN in the data center must be very good in the future. development of.

The application of GaN in electric vehicles is also quite promising. 48V-12V DC-DC, OBC, traction inverter, etc. in automobiles can use a large number of GaN devices. It can be seen that many automobiles have introduced GaN applications in recent years. At the Tokyo Motor Show in 2019, Nagoya University and Toyota jointly developed an all-gallium nitride car, GaN used in traction inverters, DC-DC, car chargers, and LED lighting. In the near future, you can also see different institutions and Manufacturers have launched many GaN solutions for vehicles, including STMicroelectronics, Anshi, IMEC and TI.

The models of GaN companies mainly include IDM and Fabless. For example, Infineon, TI, ST, Panasonic, ON Semiconductor, PI, InnoSec, etc. are all IDM, and EPC, Dialog, Navitas, etc. are Fabless models. In terms of interest rates, IDM’s business model will have more advantages. For example, 6-inch silicon-based GaN, without packaging costs, the silicon substrate accounts for a relatively low proportion, about 5-8%, and the epitaxy and the substrate account for the entire 90% of the cost, of which gallium nitride epitaxial wafers account for 40-50%, and gallium nitride devices account for 45-55%. If it is only a Fabless manufacturer, both devices and epitaxy need to be outsourced, and the overall gross profit level is relatively low, so The industry believes that the IDM model can have a higher gross profit margin.

GaN is on the eve of the outbreak. In addition to fast charging, there are five killer applications.

Currently GaN investment is hot. Is it a bubble or is it really the eve of the outbreak? Yu Kunshan, secretary general of the third-generation semiconductor industry technology innovation strategic alliance, said that from two perspectives, five years ago, the investment in GaN was very small. At that time, many companies were in a difficult state and were in a state of maintaining and surviving. Now they are investing Very large. Last year, the entire third-generation semiconductor industry investment including silicon carbide and gallium nitride, a total of 23 investments, a total investment of about 69.4 billion, of which 55 billion of silicon carbide, and 144 of gallium nitride related investments 100 million yuan.

Although it looks like a lot now, it is not much when I look back in five years. The investment may increase to 10 times at that time. For the development of GaN, the investment is only the beginning of the construction of factories, and more investment is needed to maintain the industry in the future. Yu Kunshan believes that to jointly build an industrial ecology, create application solutions, and bridge the gap, it means that a huge investment of resources is required, and it also needs to include government policy support, industrial capital investment, and more. Standard supporting equipment, etc., on the whole, from the perspective of development, GaN has more room for future development, and investors, practitioners, and alliances will also have more room for future development.

Song Wei, President of Aixtron, shared the market situation of GaN power devices from the perspective of equipment manufacturers. Aixtron is the world's mainstream silicon-based GaN MOCVD equipment manufacturer with a market share of more than 90%. Song Wei mentioned that the current GaN market is in short supply. According to their understanding, the current predicament facing European and American mainstream design companies is that they do not have enough capacity to support the development of the market. These design manufacturers rely heavily on TSMC and other foundries to provide capacity. Silicon-based GaN is actually on the eve of the explosion. From the perspective of the application of fast charging, it is in short supply, because the design company's production capacity is far from enough. At the beginning of this year, TSMC announced a large-scale expansion plan and announced that it would purchase 16 units. MOCVD expands its production capacity, but it will take a long time from the procurement of equipment to the ability to supply the production capacity to the market.

Fast charging is popular, but has GaN ushered in a real killer application? Yao Lunhui, head of the charging head website, said that it is certain that fast charging is a very big killer application. There are about 5 billion terminal devices in the world that require fast charging. This is a very large market composed of many products, such as mobile phones. Probably there are billions of units shipped. Tablet PCs have an annual shipment of 200 million to 200 million units. Notebook computers and maintain have about 100 million shipments. Now fast charging has been integrated into all aspects of life.

In addition to fast charging, there should be at least five killer applications. Each market does not have a shipment of hundreds of billions of units each year, and a total of hundreds of millions of units are shipped each year. The first is the PC market. Game charging notebooks and office computers are all important application markets for GaN. Each PC notebook probably needs more than dozens of GaN. The second is the charger for electric bicycles. The chargers of bicycles are very large and require relatively high volume and efficiency. This is a market worth paying attention to; the third is the outdoor power supply market that replaces fuel generators, because the country now promotes oil-to-electricity, because outdoor power sources are usually Inverter circuits are needed. The two-way inverter market will be another killer application of GaN; the fourth is a protection circuit for lithium batteries; and the fifth is a display with very high requirements for volume and thickness. So these and fast charging together form 6 killer apps.

The use of GaN for fast charging is just a small test, and there is still a very large application space in the future. Yu Kunshan said that it is mainly based on these considerations. First, GaN technology is still improving. Now the most common application is 650V. Subsequent applications of 700V, 800V, and 1200V will also gradually become popular. As the voltage increases, performance and on-resistance drop again. The technology achieved by GaN is only the first step, and the application space of GaN will be greater in the future.

Second, the country is making efforts to achieve carbon peaks and carbon neutrality. The country's strategic measures will also enhance the application of new technologies. From the perspective of home appliance companies, according to a previous survey of home appliance companies, it needs to purchase 10 billion yuan a year This company can provide 1 billion yuan of power modules. The remaining 9 billion yuan of power modules are basically provided by foreign capital. This is just a company. If it expands to all electrical industries, including data centers, electric vehicles , Energy Internet, etc., the market space can be imagined, and the two-carbon strategy will give birth to a huge GaN market.

Third, the application of fast charging is equivalent to the leader in the application of GaN material technology. It is precisely because of the application of fast charging that it has greatly promoted the development of the GaN industry chain. Under such guidance, the GaN industry ecology will gradually improve. The application of the aspect will also mature accordingly.

www.eda365.com/article-190429-1.html
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I should note that IMEC's 1200V GaN applications mentioned in the article are based on Aixtron's G5+C

www.imec-int.com/en/press/...0v-applications-breakdown-excess

temperature polycrystalline oxide) display capable of
alternating its refresh rate based on the content being shown.
Apple has used this technology in the Apple Watch for several
years, allowing the screen to be slower in certain situations --
such as the Always On mode -- to extend battery life. Oppo,
OnePlus and Samsung Electronics Co. already have LTPO screens in
their flagship phones. The new iPhones with LTPO displays will
also use IGZO (indium gallium zinc oxide) technology for
improved power efficiency and responsiveness.
Read more: Apple Considers Foldable iPhone; Minor Changes
Planned for 2021
While the design of the new Apple phones will remain
largely unchanged, the company plans to reduce the size of the
front-facing camera and face unlock sensor cutout, or notch, to
better match its rivals. The company hopes to eventually remove
the notch entirely in a future version of the iPhone and is
likely to shrink its size further next year.
An Apple spokesperson declined to comment.
Apple’s camera upgrades will put the focus on more advanced
video recording features such as improved optical zoom. An
upgraded system-on-chip, built around the same six cores as the
current A14 chip, will also be included. The company has tested
an in-display fingerprint scanner for this year’s devices,
however that feature will likely not appear on this generation.

What Bloomberg Intelligence Says

Apple’s building on strong momentum from the iPhone 12
release in 2020 and may continue to benefit from 5G smartphone
upgrades and an overall improved smartphone market to follow
that up with another strong release. Still, the growth expected
in the initial production ramp is skewed by the fact that the
iPhone 12 released later than normal in 2020, while the next
iPhone is expected back to the normal late September release
window.
-- Matthew Kanterman, analyst
While Apple has asked suppliers to build up to 90 million
units, the actual number could be a few million units shy of
that target, one of the people said. Huawei Technologies Co.’s
sanction-stricken smartphone business is a major factor for
Apple’s increased shipment orders, according to another person
familiar with the strategy.
The ongoing chip shortage that has undermined operations
across several global industries is not expected to affect the
production of upcoming iPhones, some of the people said. Apple
is key chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.’s
biggest customer and its outsize orders make the launch of a new
iPhone an annual event that suppliers across Asia plan for
months in advance.
TSMC shares rose as much as 1.3% after the report of
Apple’s upgraded output plans. Among other supply partners,
fellow Taiwanese connector and power-pack maker Cheng Uei
Precision Industry Co. climbed as much as 9% and lens maker
Largan Precision Co. was up as much as 2.4%. Japanese electronic
component makers Alps Alpine Co., up as much as 3.5%, and
Renesas Electronics Corp., rising as much as 2.6%, were also
positively affected. Apple profit estimates were raised at
Citigroup.
Chinese assembly partner Luxshare Precision Industry Co. is
set to have a bigger role this year after it acquired iPhone
assembly facilities from Wistron Corp.
Read more: Apple Grooms First Mainland China IPhone Maker
While U.S. Tensions Flare
Assembler Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. will dominate
orders for the 6.7-inch Pro Max model and split the 6.1-inch Pro
with Luxshare and the 6.1-inch regular iPhone with Pegatron
Corp. Pegatron is expected to make all the 5.4-inch units.
Beyond the new iPhones, Apple is preparing several other
products for later this year, including new MacBook Pro laptops
with custom Apple chips, redesigned iPad mini and entry-tier
iPad models and Apple Watches with updated displays. Apple plans
to kick off production of the new MacBook Pro in the third
quarter after facing some issues related to MiniLED screens that
also challenged the launch of the latest iPad Pro.
To resolve the MiniLED supply issue, Apple has recruited
Luxshare to split orders for an essential MiniLED component for
the new MacBook Pro with Taiwan Surface Mounting Technology
Corp., which earlier dominated the orders for the component for
iPad Pro.

It is funny that DIGITIMES is saying pretty much the same one day after my post.

www.digitimes.com/news/a20210715PD204.html
GaAs IC firms to see strong PA demand for 5G handsets,Wi-Fi 6E devices in 2H21
Julian Ho, Taipei; Willis Ke, DIGITIMES
Thursday 15 July 2021

GaAs IC foundries Win Semiconductors and Advanced Wireless Semiconductor Company (AWSC), and GaAs epi-wafer supplier Visual Photonics Epitaxy Company (VPEC) are all poised to log significant revenue gains in the second half of 2021, buoyed by demand for the upcoming iPhones and Wi-Fi 6E related applications, according to industry sources.

Apple is set to incorporate Wi-Fi 6E technology into its new iPhones for this year, and the technology is expected to become a standard feature of both iOS and Android smartphones in 2022, the sources said.

Many chipmakers including Qualcomm, Broadcom and MediaTeK are commercializing production of Wi-Fi 6E core chips, which have to be paired with RF front-end modules including power amplifiers (PA) rolled out by vendors including Qorvo and Skyworks, the sources noted. This will provide brisk business opportunities for Taiwan's 6-inch GaAs foundries Win Semi and AWSC and epi-wafer maker VPEC as they are crucial partners for processing 5G PAs and Wi-Fi 6/6E PAs for iPhones, Android smartphones, and other consumer electronics devices, added the sources.

As new iPhones will continue to adopt 3D face ID sensors for general models and ToF LiDAR scanners for Pro series, the three GaAS players will also see their third-quarter revenues further bolstered by VCSEL chips demand for the sensing solutions, the sources said.

Win Semi's June revenues rose 2.72% on year to NT$2.057 billion (US$73.36 million), and first-half 2021 sales edged up 0.67% on year to NT$12.143 billion.

AWSC saw its June revenues rise 4.5% sequentially and 39.41% on year to a six-year high of NT$396 million, with January-June sales jumping 33.95% on year to NT$2.216 billion.

VPEC's June revenues of NT$319 million represent sequential and on-year growths of 10.4% and 56.7%, respectively. Its revenues for the first six months of the year advanced 43.6% on year reaching NT$1.785 billion.

Hallo hier meine Notizen auf die Schnelle:


Q: GaN: how evolving? Will be digesting in 2022?
A: very broad adoption in the market, multi year trend, driven broadly, customers working on opening more appl for GaN, adoption in the beginning

Q: How about SiC?
A: automotive market main driver, commercial orders (high volume) - from 1Q22

Q: Supply Chain: Lead times?
A: well fed to secure 2021 volume and well into 2022, very large customer from N.America
(vielleicht Cree?)

Q: SiC
A: Always competition, our equipement 6 and 8 inch size, later converting to 8 inch (wafer size transition - well prepared)

Q: Prices increase?
A: PRices increase only at certain times - justified.
(das sehe ich etwas schwach. Man sollte Preise auch dem DEmand entsprechend anheben können)

Q: Higher prepayments or not showing all orders?
A: Not the same policy with all customers, different payment behaviour

Q: Gross margin guidance basded on 1.25 USD for the year
A: Exposure to USD decreased, no intention to  increase gross margin due to cur. rate

Q: Backlog colouring?
A: Power Electr 50%, 20% LED, 25% telecom/data