Wolfspeed-Renesas deal heralds the future of power chips

TOKYO – Renesas, Japan’s top maker of automotive chips, has reached a 10-year supply agreement with America’s Wolfspeed, the world’s leading producer of the silicon carbide wafers used to make power semiconductors.

Both companies have ambitious plans to meet rapidly growing demand for electric vehicles (EVs) and charging infrastructure, renewable energy generation and storage, and industrial motor control and other power management.

A US$2 billion deposit from Renesas will support Wolfspeed’s capacity expansion plans in the state of North Carolina. Meanwhile, a guaranteed supply of Wolfspeed-made wafers will support Renesas’ power device manufacturing in Japan. The agreement was signed at Renesas’ headquarters in Tokyo on July 5.