Cree, Inc., through its Wolfspeed business, and STMicroelectronics have agreed to expand further their long-term silicon carbide (SiC) wafer supply deal. The agreement involves Cree supplying to ST with 150mm silicon carbide bare and epitaxial wafers, now worth more than US$800 million.

“This latest expansion to our long-term wafer supply agreement with Cree will continue to contribute to the flexibility of our global silicon carbide substrate supply. It will continue to contribute importantly to our global silicon carbide supply, complementing the other external capacity we have secured and the internal capacity we are ramping,” said Jean-Marc Chery, President and Chief Executive officer of STMicroelectronics.

“The agreement will help meet the high volumes required by our product manufacturing operations in the next years, with a large number of automotive and industrial customer programs in high volumes or ramping up,” Chery added.

The adoption of SiC-based power solutions is rapidly growing across the automotive market. This as the industry moves from internal combustion engines to electric vehicles. This enables greater system efficiencies that result in electric cars with longer range and faster charging, while reducing cost, lowering weight and conserving space.

In the industrial market, SiC solutions enable smaller, lighter, and more cost-effective designs, converting energy more efficiently to unlock new clean energy applications. To support these growing markets, device manufacturers are interested in securing high-quality SiC substrates to support their customers.

“We are very pleased that STMicroelectronics will continue to leverage Wolfspeed silicon carbide materials as part of their supply strategy for the next several years,” said Cree Chief Executive Officer Gregg Lowe.

“Our long-term wafer supply agreements with device manufacturers now total more than US$1.3 billion and help support our efforts to drive the industry transition from silicon-to-silicon carbide. Our partnerships and significant investments in increased production capacity ensure we are well positioned to capitalize on what we believe to be is a multi-decade growth opportunity for silicon carbide-based applications,” Lowe added.