TrendForce: The market size of GaN power components will reach US$850 million by 2025

According to research by consulting agency TrendForce, the market size of GaN power components will reach US$850 million by 2025, and the compound growth rate (CAGR) from 2020 to 2025 will be as high as 78%. The top three applications accounted for 60% of consumer electronics, 20% of new energy vehicles, and 15% of communications and data centers. In 2021, the amazing growth of mobile phone fast charging will continue to drive the continuous growth of the market, allowing GaN, one of the "three and a half" double stars, to hand over a beautiful transcript.

The fast-charging market continues to explode

The surprise of the GaN market in 2021 still comes from the fast charging market. Since Apple came out in person and released 140W GaN fast-charging products, manufacturers who used to take a wait-and-see attitude have also begun to follow up.

The use of GaN in fast charging of mobile phones is mainly because the charging power of mobile phones is increasing, and the portability of adapters and chargers is getting worse when the power of adapters and chargers changes from 5W, 10W to 65W, 125W. The charger using GaN chip is small in size and fast in charging. At the same time, the USB standardization organization promoted the Type-C interface and the USB Power Delivery protocol (USB Power Delivery, USB PD), which led to the explosion of the accessories market. With a standard adapter, mobile phones can be quickly charged, and notebook computers can also be used, so the demand has increased.

In addition to the products launched by OPPO, Realme, Xiaomi, Nubia, Samsung, Lenovo, ZTE, and other mobile phone manufacturers, third-party manufacturers have also spared no effort to follow up. There are hundreds of 20W-120W GaN fast-charging products on the market. The 140W charger released by Apple in conjunction with the new MacBook Pro notebook has pushed the market application of GaN to a new height.

Manufacturers are still researching putting GaN devices directly into mobile phones. OPPO applied low-voltage GaN to the internal circuit of mobile phones for the first time at the flash charging open day exchange event held in July last year, replacing two GaN switches with one. The series-connected silicon MOSFET realizes the path management of fast charging.

Recent research by TrendForce shows that thanks to the rapid rise in demand for consumer fast-charging products, mobile phone brands such as Xiaomi, OPPO, and Vivo have been the first to launch fast-charging heads since 2018, which are favored by consumers due to their high heat dissipation efficiency and small size. , Up to now, notebook manufacturers are also interested in following up, making the GaN power market the fastest-rising category in the third-generation semiconductor industry. It is estimated that the revenue in 2021 will reach US$83 million, an annual increase of 73%.

Another important reason for the large-scale application of GaN in the field of fast charging is that the price of GaN devices has dropped significantly. In early 2021, GaN Systems, a major player in GaN power transistors, announced prices for its low-current, high-volume GaN transistors, which are commonly used in smartphones and laptops, as well as in various consumer and industrial applications, have fallen below $1. GaN chargers and AC adapters.

Fierce competition among manufacturers

Due to the rapid rise of the fast charging market, the ranking of GaN power device manufacturers has also changed. According to the 2021 Global GaN Power Manufacturer Shipment Market Share Ranking released by TrendForce, Navitas will surpass Power Integrations (PI) with a 29% shipment market share and take first place in the global GaN power market this year.


With its characteristic GaN Fast power ICs design scheme and good supply chain cooperation, Nano-Micro has become the largest supplier of GaN power chips in the consumer market and has cooperated with the world's top mobile phone OEM manufacturers and PC equipment manufacturers, including Dell, Lenovo, LG, Xiaomi, OPPO, etc. In 2021, its fast-charging IC orders will continue to increase. Previously, the 6-inch wafer production in TSMC Fab2 will be transferred to an 8-inch factory in the second half of the year to alleviate the problem of capacity shortage; Sanan Integration is also its intended foundry. In addition, for other GaN application markets, data centers may also become a priority entry point for NanoMicro Semiconductors, and corresponding products are expected to be launched in 2022.

As a veteran power chip manufacturer, PI has long been an absolutely dominant player in the GaN power market. This year, PI launched a new generation of InnoSwitch4-CZ series chips based on PowiGaN technology, which is used in Anker 65W fast charging and other products, which have won unanimous praise from the market. In addition, the recently released first single-chip product integrating AC-DC controller and USB PD protocol control may become another key driving force for PI's revenue growth this year, and it is estimated that it will occupy a market share of 24%. Second in the world.

It is worth mentioning that the market share of Chinese manufacturer Innoscience has risen to 20% this year, jumping to third place in the world, mainly due to the substantial increase in the shipment of its high and low voltage GaN products. For the first time, the product entered the supply chain of first-tier notebook manufacturers. At the same time, the Suzhou 8-inch fab has entered the stage of mass production, and the advantages of the IDM model will gradually emerge in the rapid development of the GaN industry.

Enterprise busy layout

GaN is booming in 2021, and the industry is naturally busy. Especially in China, major projects have started. In January 2021, Suzhou Navitas Technology Co., Ltd. held a groundbreaking ceremony for the headquarters building. The project covers an area of ​​more than 14,000 square meters and a total construction area of ​​more than 34,000 square meters. After completion, the annual output of gallium nitride single crystal substrates and epitaxy up to 50,000 pieces

On April 29, 2021, Episil announced that it will invest NT$5 billion (about 1.16 billion yuan) to fully develop gallium nitride (GaN) and silicon carbide (SiC) epitaxy and device foundry. On June 5, 2021, Innosec (Suzhou) Semiconductor Co., Ltd. held a groundbreaking ceremony for the mass production and R&D building, and the world's largest gallium nitride production base was officially put into operation.

Earlier, Innosec said that the total investment in the first phase of the project is expected to be 8 billion yuan. After production, the production capacity will gradually climb, and by the end of 2021, the production capacity will reach 6,000 pieces/month. After the project is fully operational by the end of 2022, the Suzhou factory will achieve an annual production capacity of 780,000 8-inch silicon-based GaN wafers, with an estimated annual output value of 15 billion yuan and profits and taxes exceeding 1.5 billion yuan.

In addition to the start of new projects, the cooperation between the industrial chains has also become closer. In March 2021, Nexperia, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Wingtech Technology and a global leader in power semiconductors, announced that it has reached a cooperation with United Automotive Electronics Co., Ltd., a leading company in the domestic automotive industry. Carry out in-depth cooperation to meet the ever-increasing demand for technology in future new energy vehicle power systems, and work together to promote the research and development and application of GaN process technology in the Chinese automotive market.

In August, Heraeus Electronics, a global supplier of packaging materials to the power electronics industry, has joined the PowerAmerica Institute to advance the use of wide-bandgap (WBG) semiconductors. Heraeus Electronics' technical expertise and Power America Institute's industry connections will accelerate the development of new materials and support the expansion of the power electronics industry. The collaboration will bring next-generation silicon carbide and gallium nitride power electronics to market faster, reducing the cost and risk factors associated with next-generation technologies.

In November, Canadian company GaN Systems announced that it had reached an agreement with German automaker BMW to ensure gallium nitride (GaN) transistor production capacity, which is expected to ensure the stability of the automaker's supply chain; the company's CEO Jim Witham said in an interview GaN Systems will provide a range of capacities for a variety of applications, said Shi.

Finally, GaN technology itself is making breakthroughs. In August, Novel Crystal Technology, Inc announced that it had successfully scaled up its high-quality Ga2O3 epitaxial wafer fabrication technology to 100mm. This means that Ga2O3 power devices can now be produced on 100mm production lines.

In November, Nanowei released a new product that added circuit sensing technology to gallium nitride power chips, which is the first gallium nitride power chip integrated with intelligent sensing technology in the industry. Through the integration of sensors and chips, the protection function of the circuit is also developed towards intelligence, which ensures the safety and stability of the system.

In addition to the extremely dazzling fast charging of mobile phones, GaN has also begun to penetrate into fields such as electric vehicles, wireless charging, and 5G infrastructure, and other semiconductor materials such as SiC are also expanding into these fields. Therefore, a competitive or complementary relationship with other third-generation materials will be the development trend of GaN in the next few years.

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