BYD Semiconductor’s 8-inch Wafer Project Enters Production
Chinese media outlet ijiwei.com reported on Wednesday that BYD’s chip-making arm BYD Semiconductor has put into production an 8-inch automotive power chip project in eastern China’s Shandong province, with a planned annual production capacity of 360,000 wafers.
“The project will help ease the shortage of high-power chips for new energy vehicles (NEVs). It was put into production in January this year and is expected to reach full design capacity in the next year or so,” said Li Haitao, deputy general manager of BYD Semiconductor’s Jinan branch.
BYD Semiconductor’s main business covers R&D, production and sales of power semiconductors, integrated circuits, intelligent sensors and optoelectronic semiconductors. BYD directly holds 72.3% of the company’s shares, making it the controlling shareholder. In January this year, BYD Semiconductor’s plan to go public in the A-share market was approved by local regulators. It has five subsidiaries located in Ningbo, Guangdong, Changsha, Xi’an and Jinan.
SEE ALSO: BYD Starts Buying IGBT Modules From Suppliers Other Than Its Semiconductor Unit
According to Omdia’s public data, in 2019, the market share of BYD’s insulated gate bipolar translator (IGBT) for motor drive controller reached 18%, ranking second in the world and first in China. Even so, the production capacity is sufficient for BYD’s surging NEVs sales. In 2021, BYD sold 593,745 NEVs, up 231.6% year-on-year from 189,700 units in 2020. In addition, BYD forecasts that its sales of NEVs will reach 1.5 million units in 2022.
