SiC raw materials rise as 6-inch substrates face price war
The silicon carbide (SiC) supply chain is entering a split-phase market, with SiC raw materials moving up in price while 6-inch device substrates come under heavy pricing pressure. For power and automotive designers, this divergence could potentially reshape device cost structures just as SiC is being pulled into AI accelerators and high-performance computing platforms.
Diverging trends in SiC pricing
According to market data cited by TrendForce, bulk SiC powders and grains, including black and green grades, have seen gradual price increases. Recent trades are reported at around CNY 6,271 per metric ton, up roughly 0.21 percent week on week. The move is attributed to firm feedstock costs, expanding downstream demand and supply adjustments linked to environmental inspections and capacity constraints, effects that together push more cost into the distribution chain.
In contrast, 6-inch SiC wafer substrates for power devices have entered what is described as a price war. Rapid capacity expansion by major global suppliers has led to oversupply, with prices reportedly falling below 500 US dollars per wafer from mid-2024 into the fourth quarter, a decline of more than 20 percent. Through 2025, mainstream quotations are said to hover around 400 dollars or lower, with some suppliers offering prices close to cost, which could accelerate consolidation among substrate producers.
AI and HPC push SiC into high-value roles
Beyond power electronics, SiC is increasingly positioned as a thermal management material for AI and high-performance computing (HPC) platforms. With GPU power densities climbing, conventional thermal solutions are struggling to keep up, and SiC, with thermal conductivity quoted up to around 500 W per meter Kelvin, is emerging as a candidate for heat spreading and carrier structures.
TrendForce reports that NVIDIA is expected to bring SiC into its Rubin AI platform around 2025, using TSMC’s CoWoS advanced packaging to replace conventional silicon interposers with SiC to better handle high thermal loads. In parallel, TSMC is working with suppliers on 12-inch single-crystal SiC carrier boards to replace traditional ceramics in HPC systems, with Chinese supplier SICC already sampling a full 12-inch SiC substrate portfolio to address that demand.
As large data centers move toward 800 V high-voltage DC architectures, SiC power devices stand to benefit from higher efficiency and reduced losses at system level. At the same time, SiC’s high refractive index, quoted at around 2.6 to 2.7, is being evaluated for AR, MR, and VR optics, where it could potentially enable thinner optics and wider fields of view compared with conventional glass.
Implications for European power device makers
If SiC raw materials continue to edge higher while 6-inch substrates remain under price pressure, European IDMs and module makers could potentially see a window to lock in more competitive wafer contracts, particularly for automotive-qualified lines. At the same time, any structural move toward 12-inch SiC carriers and advanced packaging for AI accelerators may pull process know-how and investment further up the value chain, with possible spillover benefits for European packaging and materials specialists.
In the near term, the message for engineers and sourcing teams is that SiC is no longer only a wide bandgap option for high-voltage power devices. It is increasingly positioned as a strategic material for AI thermal management and advanced optics, while its own cost base is being reshaped by SiC raw materials pricing at one end and substrate price competition at the other.
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