New 200mm SiC Fab Will Power EV With 516 Mile Range
It has been a busy week for Wolfspeed. First it opened its state-of-the-art SiC fab in Marcy, New York, and then it announced that its devices have been used in the Lucid Air EV.
The opening of the Mohawk Valley 200mm SiC wafer fab facility in Marcy, N.Y. expands Wolfspeed’s manufacturing capacity to meet the growing demand for SiC devices across the automotive and industrial industries. The new state-of-the-art facility was designed to help quicken the industry-wide transition from silicon to SiC-based semiconductors. The facility is the world’s first and largest 200mm SiC fab, built to provide high wafer quality and better yields. The devices developed in Mohawk Valley will be critical in feeding Wolfspeed’s $20B+ pipeline and the global semiconductor industry. The first SiC lot was run at the facility earlier this month. Over 600 high-tech jobs will be created at the fab by 2029. The company also intends to expand its operations in North Carolina with the building of a new materials factory in Durham, N.C., which should be completed later this year. Together, these factories establish a national Silicon Carbide corridor on the East Coast of the USA.
As a key partner, Lucid Motors had the honour of “cutting the ribbon” to formally open the new fab with its Lucid Air - the 2022 MotorTrend Car of the Year. Wolfspeed recently announced a multi-year agreement with Lucid to supply SiC devices. The partnership also gives Lucid access to increased capacity to better support their long-term automotive production. Lucid has already deployed Wolfspeed’s SiC power devices in the Lucid Air. In the future, the Lucid Air EV will use advanced SiC semiconductors supplied by the new Wolfspeed Mohawk Valley fab.
“Lucid’s proprietary powertrain technology – engineered and produced in-house – is at the core of what makes Lucid Air the most advanced and most efficient luxury electric vehicle in the world,” said Eric Bach, Senior Vice President of Product and Chief Engineer at Lucid. “With the perfect blend of high performance and high efficiency, Wolfspeed’s innovative SiC MOSFET power semiconductors are an ideal fit for Lucid’s advanced technology.”
“Lucid Motors is an emerging leader in not only electric vehicles, but the entire automotive industry,” said Gregg Lowe, CEO of Wolfspeed. “As the world advances towards an all-electric future for transportation, Silicon Carbide technology is at the forefront of the industry’s transition to EVs, enabling superior performance, range and charge time. Our investment in the Mohawk Valley Fab ensures our customers, including Lucid, have access to the advanced products they need to deliver innovative solutions to the market.”
The Lucid Air EV's inverters feature Wolfspeed's XM3 Silicon Carbide power modules. With low switching losses, minimal resistance, and high power density, the XM3 power modules contribute to the efficiency and power density of Lucid's 163-lb, 670-hp (74kg 500kW) electric motor.
