Samsung has already spent around 200 billion won in preparation to start manufacturing silicon carbide (SiC) and gallium nitride (GaN) semiconductors.
Sources said the spending amount shows that the tech giant can already manufacture prototypes of certain chips.
SiC and GaN are being used in the latest power management ICs as they are more durable and power efficient than silicon.
SiC is seeing high demand from the automotive sector thanks to its durability; GaN meanwhile is being used more in wireless communication applications thanks to its fast switching speed.
Samsung formed a Power Semiconductor Task Force earlier this year as its first step to manufacture SiC and GaN chips.
Besides those of Samsung’s chip business, staff from the LED team and Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology (SAIT) are also part of the task force.
The LED team is also part of the task force as wafers for LED already use GaN and other nitride materials on the silicon using deposition machines.
Samsung is planning to manufacture GaN and SiC chips from 8-inch wafers; skipping the entry level of 6-inch that most power chip makers have started with.
MicroLED is also made in 8-inch wafers; SAIT meanwhile, already has technologies related to GaN.
The use of 8-inch wafers is noticeable as SiC is still mostly made using 4-inch and 6-inch wafers; in GaN, 8-inch wafers are becoming mainstream.
A Samsung spokesperson said that their business related SiC chips were at a “study stage” and added that nothing was decided on the matter.
