| Perspectives on Silicon Carbide from STMicroelectronics' Marco Monti |
 Our European Technology Research team spoke to Marco Monti, President at the Automotive and Discrete Group at STMicroelectronics, about the strategic importance of STMicro’s position in Silicon Carbide and the longer-term opportunities in the market. Q. Can you explain the strategic importance of ST having a significant market position in Silicon Carbide technology? Do you think there is an advantage in being one of the “first movers” in Silicon Carbide for Electric Vehicles and why? Q. How can Silicon Carbide add value and/or save costs for OEMs and Tier 1s in each of the different end applications e.g. auto, industrial etc. as compared to Silicon-based power semis? |
| Perspectives on Silicon Carbide from Infineon's Reinhard Ploss |
 Our European Technology Research team spoke to Reinhard Ploss, CEO of Infineon, about his views on the timeline for Silicon Carbide adoption and Infineon’s engagement with customers on this technology. Q. Can you explain the strategic importance to Infineon of developing a strong presence in silicon carbide (SiC) technology in the power semiconductor space?What are the key applications this technology can drive and why? |
Therefore, the speed of adoption of SiC in different applications will depend on a cost-benefit equation, which will vary at different points in time for different applications. The first applications where we saw already the tipping point are the photovoltaic inverter and the ultra-fast charging points for electro-mobility charging infrastructure. The next ones are industrial power supplies, auxiliary power in traction, and certain drives. After this, we see electro-mobility; first in the on-board charger followed by the main inverter.
We have now about 70 years of learning in the silicon transistor and just a few years in the SiC transistor. But long-term experience is crucial, for example, for automotive applications. SiC still needs to be proven on the road in large volume and it will take time. In the long run, you will only reap the full potential of SiC if the right module and interconnect technology is available. Module capability remains key!
And, of course, we still have the high cost driven primarily by the high raw wafer material. Here, we do expect a cost reduction over time. But one should also keep in mind that IGBT development is not standing still. There will be further cost reductions and efficiency improvements in coming years. And I think there are a lot of price-sensitive applications out there, where the performance of silicon-based IGBTs is sufficient, hence they will maybe never switch to SiC. SiC raw wafer supply could potentially become an issue if the market accelerates in demand. However, in the foreseeable future we feel comfortable with our supply contract with Cree, Inc..
A. In automotive we see enormous interest in our products: about 20 OEMs and Tier-1s are evaluating our SiC components: SiC diodes, discrete SiC MOSFETs, and full SiC modules. We are ramping our SiC diode designed-in in an on-board charger this year. Next year, our first discrete SiC MOSFET for an on-board charger will follow. And we have secured a first design-win for a main inverter which will ramp in 2020. Nevertheless, in the next couple of years, about 90 percent of electric cars on the road will use an IGBT-based inverter. The adoption of SiC will take time, because to reap the full system benefits, a lot of redesign on the application level needs to be done.
For the main inverter power rates of more than 100 kilowatt need to be handled. Here, power modules are first choice. We leverage our experience of more than 40 years in the industrial sphere into the automotive business. This gives us definitely an advantage. SiC modules will show the highest growth rates in the years to come and will be the primary form factor for the main inverter. For the on-board charger which consumes just about one tenth of the semiconductor content compared with the main inverter, discrete SiC MOSFETs or small modules will be used.
Apart from a few early adopters, we expect that high-volume automotive platforms with a main inverter based on SiC will not hit the market before 2022. Given the need to redesign the overall system to take full advantage of the benefits of SiC along with the long product cycles of traditional OEMs it will take three to five years before SiC starts to see wider adoption within xEV inverter applications. But you can be sure that we are very well positioned to participate substantially in this evolution.
| INFY1.BO | 12m Price Target: Rs0.67 | Price: Rs1,677.00 | Downside: 100.0% |
| INFY | 6m Price Target: $0.00 | Price: $16.75 | Downside: 100.0% |
| Market cap: Rs201.1tr / $2.8tr |
| Enterprise value: -- |
| 3m ADTV: NA |
| India |
| India IT Services |
| M&A Rank: 2 |
| Leases incl. in net debt & EV?: No |
| 3/13 | 3/14E | 3/15E | 3/16E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue (Rs mn) | 5,555,555.0 | 516,978.4 | 607,318.2 | 682,210.6 |
| EBITDA (Rs mn) | 115,580.0 | 140,241.2 | 165,092.8 | 180,520.4 |
| EPS (Rs) | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| P/E (X) | NM | NM | NM | NM |
| P/B (X) | NM | NM | NM | NM |
| Dividend yield (%) | NM | NM | NM | NM |
| N debt/EBITDA (ex lease,X) | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| CROCI (%) | 41.1 | 38.4 | 37.8 | 35.3 |
| FCF yield (%) | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| 3/13 | 6/13E | 9/13E | 12/13E | |
| EPS (Rs) | -- | -- | -- | -- |
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