Japanese companies are investing in semiconductors for power control called 'power semiconductors'. They are used in a wide range of fields such as home appliances, industrial equipment and photovoltaic power generation, but environmental regulations are expected to become the main battlefield in the future. In order to realize the miniaturization of power equipment for pure electric vehicles or to control motors efficiently, the demand for power semiconductors with energy-saving effects is increasing.
In the year of 2020, Toshiba will increase its power semiconductor production capacity to 1.5 times that of 2017. The Toshiba Kushiro Semiconductor Factory (located in Taiko-cho, Hyogo Prefecture) will be used as a center for the production of a full-load production subsidiary, Kaga Toshiba Electronics. And the semiconductor factory in Thailand will also strengthen the assembly process.
The investment is expected to reach approximately 30 billion yen in three years. Toshiba is manufacturing a power semiconductor called 'Discrete'. The profit margin of this product is as high as 10%, so Toshiba is considering a separate power semiconductor business. Sales will increase by 25% to 200 billion yen by 2020. After the sale of the memory business with annual sales of more than 400 billion yen, Toshiba hopes to develop a separate power semiconductor for new business. One of the pillars of profitable business.
According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), by 2030, the number of pure electric vehicles sold worldwide will reach 15 times that of 2017, increasing to 21.5 million. According to Japan's Fuji economic statistics, power semiconductors will reach the world market in 2030. The scale is expected to increase by 70% compared with 2017, reaching 4.68 trillion yen, but with the popularity of pure electric vehicles, it is likely to increase further.
According to statistics from IC Insights, a US research company, Japanese companies accounted for 49% of the semiconductor sales in 1990, ranking first in the world, but fell to 7% in 2017. On the other hand, although power semiconductors account for the semiconductor market as a whole. The ratio is only about 5%, but Mitsubishi Electric and Toshiba are the third and fourth places in the field, and Japanese companies are outstanding.
Not only pure electric vehicles, but also the demand for factory automation (FA) is expected to expand globally. In the fields of industrial equipment and railways, due to the demand for energy saving, stable incomes can be expected in the future, so European, American and Japanese companies are Joint venture to increase production investment.
Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, the largest company in Japan, will invest approximately 10 billion yen in the main plant in Kumamoto and China in the year of 2018. The power semiconductor business centered on power semiconductors will strive to achieve sales of 200 billion yen by 2022.
Fuji Electric will invest 20 billion yen in 2018 to strengthen domestic factory equipment. Develop power semiconductors for pure electric vehicles and small and lightweight. The company has just formed a mass production system in 2017. It will invest an additional 30 billion yen in 2020. Yuan, I hope to increase the annual sales of Power Semiconductor's 2023 to 1.5 times now, reaching 150 billion yen.
It is not just Japanese companies that are targeting the growth market. Infineon Technologies AG, the world's largest company, joined forces with Shanghai Automotive in March to establish a manufacturing company for power semiconductor modules in Shanghai. And US semiconductor giant ON Semiconductor ( ON Semiconductor will also expand its power semiconductor products with automotive semiconductors as its center.
Japanese companies that are at a disadvantage in scale will be committed to technology development. We will strengthen the power loss reduction of power semiconductors and strive to achieve a longer life and high heat resistance development system. We will also focus on gallium nitride (GaN) and silicon carbide. (SiC) development of power semiconductors using a new generation of materials.