That surging demand is why the company also moved in April to acquire the chipmaker TSI Semiconductors in Roseville, Calif. Bosch said it will spend $1.5 billion to upgrade the facility to make it a hub for silicon carbide chip production in the U.S. by 2026 as it looks to meet surging demand in the region for components made with the material.
“We are heavily investing in floor space and machines just to be able to fulfill customer demands, which are worldwide because everybody wants to electrify,” Leinenbach said. “And if you want to do that seriously, you have to use silicon carbide chips.”
The material is not new, but it has come into focus for the auto industry over the past several years as manufacturers look for ways to make EVs more efficient and reduce charging times, alleviating two major concerns for many potential EV buyers.
Silicon carbide chips offer many advantages over typical silicon chips when used in EV inverters. They enable faster charging by being more stable at high voltages, take up less room than silicon chips and are more efficient, helping automakers to save space, boost charging times and extend range by as much as 6 percent.
“There’s no way to avoid silicon carbide,” Leinenbach said. “If you want to do power charging, you need silicon carbide. I don’t want to charge an electric car for three hours off the highway. I want a super charger that can do it in 10 to 15 minutes.”
It’s a view echoed by executives at many of Bosch’s competitors, as well as those leading major semiconductor makers worldwide.
“With silicon carbide, compared to silicon, you can improve your efficiency by a significant factor,” BorgWarner CEO Frederic Lissalde told Automotive News Europe.
