BergWarner invests US $500 million in Wolfspeed to ensure the supply of semiconductor capacity
CTOnews.com, Nov. 17 (Xinhua)-- Semiconductor company Wolfspeed and auto parts supplier BergWarner announced a partnership on Wednesday local time. BergWarner will invest $500m (about 3.54 billion yuan) in a financing deal announced by Wolfspeed earlier in the day to obtain access to silicon carbide device production capacity.
Based on the multi-year agreement reached between Wolfspeed and BergWarner, Bogwarner will have the right to purchase devices of up to $650 million (about 4.602 billion yuan) a year in response to increased demand from its company.
CTOnews.com learned that Fr é d é ric Lissalde, president and CEO of BergWarner, said that with the continuous growth of the electric vehicle business, silicon carbide-based power electronics is playing an increasingly important role for the company's users. It is believed that this agreement will help ensure that BergWarner has a reliable supply of high-quality silicon carbide devices.
BergWarner's strategic goal is to increase electric vehicle revenue from less than $350 million (about 2.478 billion yuan) in 2021 to $4.5 billion (31.86 billion yuan) in 2025, according to the data. Based on new business incentives and acquisitions announced at the time of the company's third-quarter results, BergWarner believes revenue from the electric vehicle business is on track to reach about $4 billion (28.32 billion yuan) by 2025.
In addition, at investor day last month, Wolfspeed introduced a multi-year, $6.5 billion (46.02 billion yuan) capacity expansion plan, which includes the installation of more equipment at the company's 200mm Mohawk Valley plant and the construction of a 445-acre silicon carbide plant in North Carolina. This will increase the existing material production capacity of Wolfspeed by more than 10 times. The first phase of the construction plan will be completed by the end of the company's fiscal year 2024.
