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Soitec and Tokai Carbon, a comprehensive manufacturer of carbon and graphite products, have entered into a strategic partnership for the development and supply of polycrystalline silicon carbide substrates specifically designed for Soitec SmartSiC™ wafers.
Silicon carbide is a disruptive compound semiconductor and SmartSiC™ engineered substrates accelerate the adoption of silicon carbide for electric mobility, industrial and smart grid applications by delivering superior manufacturing and cost efficiencies with an improved environmental footprint.
Under this partnership, which will see Tokai Carbon supply 150mm and 200mm poly-SiC wafers to Soitec, the two companies are harnessing their advanced R&D capabilities to enhance the SmartSiC™ ecosystem. Tokai Carbon’s advanced technology and manufacturing capacity in polycrystalline silicon carbide (polySiC) combined with the right to use Soitec specifications for polySiC coarse wafers compliant with Soitec SmartSiC™ is expected to make a strategic contribution to the global ramp-up of SmartSiC™ wafer production.
Cyril Menon, Chief Operations Officer of Soitec, stated: “This partnership with Tokai marks yet another key step in the ramp-up of Soitec’s SmartSiC™ technology to address fast-growing markets such as electric mobility and industrial electrification. Tokai’s top quality SiC products and R&D capabilities, combined with Soitec’s innovative SmartSiC™ technology, can help to accelerate global adoption of electric mobility and other SiC technologies. This is an important milestone in terms of perception and value creation for the SmartSiC™ ecosystem.”
Hajime Nagasaka, CEO of Tokai Carbon, commented. “The polycrystalline SiC substrate to be supplied to Soitec is a strategic product in our solid SiC product series. We are pleased to see our long years of research and development come to fruition in this way, and we have high expectations for this product in the SiC semiconductor market, which is expected to expand significantly in the future. The partnership with Soitec is also very meaningful in terms of contributing to the realization of a sustainable society.”
Original – Soitec
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X-FAB and Soitec will begin work to offer Soitec’s SmartSiC™ wafers for the production of silicon carbide power devices at X-FAB’s plant in Lubbock, Texas.
This collaboration follows the successful completion of the assessment phase, during which silicon carbide (SiC) power devices were manufactured at X-FAB Texas on 150mm SmartSiC™ wafers. Soitec will offer X-FAB’s customers easy access to the SmartSiC™ substrate through a joint supply chain consignment model.
X-FAB is the pioneer and leader of the foundry model in the fast-growing SiC market. Silicon carbide (SiC) is a disruptive compound semiconductor material with intrinsic properties providing superior performance and efficiency over silicon in power applications.
SmartSiC™ is a proprietary Soitec technology based on the company’s SmartCut™ process, in which a thin layer of a high-quality monocrystalline (mono-SiC) ‘donor’ wafer is split off and bonded to a low resistivity polycrystalline (poly-SiC) ‘handle’ wafer. The resulting substrate offers improved device performance and manufacturing yields. The process allows multiple re-uses of a single donor wafer, significantly reducing cost and related CO2 emissions.In this fast-growing market, Soitec is ramping production of SmartSiC™ substrates at its new plant of Bernin, near Grenoble (France). X-FAB is increasing production capacity for SiC devices at the Lubbock plant. The use of the SmartSiC™ substrate enables X-FAB’s customers to design smaller devices, resulting in efficiency improvements through an increased number of dies per wafer. The benefit of reduced CO2 emissions from the substrate manufacturing process will also contribute to X-FAB’s initiative to reduce its overall carbon footprint.
Sophie Le-Guyadec VP Procurement of X-FAB, states: “As the leading SiC foundry, we want to provide our customers the full range of opportunities to design innovative and robust SiC devices for electric vehicles, renewable power and industrial applications. To offer the most advanced silicon carbide processes and manufacturing capabilities, we jointly agreed to provide our customers easy access to Soitec’s innovative SmartSiC™ via a consignment model.”
Emmanuel Sabonnadiere, Soitec Executive Vice President Automotive and Industry comments: “Soitec’s SmartSiC substrates and X-FAB’s foundry services are a perfect fit to meet increasing demand for new SiC products. This cooperation is a significant milestone for the deployment of SmartSiC in the U.S. market and internationally, thanks to X-FAB’s global footprint.”Original – X-FAB
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Soitec announced its revenue for the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2024 and its full-year results of fiscal year 2024 (ended on March 31st, 2024). The financial statements were approved by the Board of Directors during its meeting.
- Q4’24 revenue reached €337m, down 2% at constant exchange rates and perimeter compared to the record quarter Q4’23
- FY’24 revenue amounted to €978m, down 10% both at constant exchange rates and perimeter and on a reported basis, in line with latest guidance
- FY’24 EBITDA margin at the level of 34%, also in line with latest guidance
- FY’24 net profit, reached €178m, an 18% margin
- FY’25 outlook confirmed: Soitec expects revenue to be stable year-on-year at constant exchange rates and perimeter and EBITDA margin to reach around 35%
- Changes in the Board of Directors: Frédéric Lissalde to be proposed as Director at the next Annual General Meeting
Pierre Barnabé, Soitec’s CEO, commented: “Fiscal year 2024 was a challenging year, marked by the impact on our sales of RF-SOI inventories correction across the entire smartphone value chain. Despite these difficult market conditions, we succeeded in maintaining a solid level of profitability, while continuing to invest both in innovation and industrial capacity to prepare for the future.
Regarding our fiscal year 2025, the RF-SOI inventory correction will continue to impact our revenue through the first part of the year. However, we are seeing early signs of improvement downstream, led by the ongoing return to growth of the smartphone market, which gives us confidence in the recovery of our RF-SOI sales in the second half of the year. At the same time, we will continue to benefit from strong performance of our other SOI products, and from the successful expansion of our product portfolio, with increased penetration of POI and the ramp-up of SmartSiC.
Looking ahead, we remain very confident in our ability to leverage the significant growth drivers underpinning our three end-markets. Coupled with the increasing adoption of engineered substrates to deliver more powerful and energy-efficient solutions to a growing number of customers, our continued diversification and expansion of our product portfolio, in both SOI and Compound substrates, supports our clear vision towards $2bn revenue in the medium term, with significant margin expansion potential,” added Pierre Barnabé.
Original – Soitec
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Soitec announced consolidated revenue of 240 million Euros for the third quarter of FY’24 (ended December 31st, 2023), down 13% on a reported basis compared with 274 million Euros achieved in the third quarter of FY’23. This reflects a 12% decline at constant exchange rates and perimeter and a negative currency impact of 1%.
Pierre Barnabé, Soitec’s CEO, commented: “After the very strong sequential rebound achieved in the second quarter, we maintained our third-quarter revenue at a similar level, in line with our expectations. As we indicated during our last communication, the correction of RF-SOI inventories by our customers continues to weigh on revenue, offsetting the continued strong performance of FD-SOI, POI and Power-SOI, strong growth in Automotive & Industrial, and a solid level of revenue in Smart Devices.
We anticipate to continue to face challenging market dynamics on RF-SOI for another couple of quarters. While confirming that we expect a solid Q4’24, we are adjusting our revenue guidance for the full-year, with an organic decline of around 10% year-on-year and an EBITDA margin forecast of around 34%. Expansion into new products remains a key pillar of our strategy, and we are very satisfied with the successes we have achieved.
In Mobile Communications, FD-SOI penetration continues to progress, with the latest flagship smartphones embedding increasingly more content. POI activity accelerates, with two new customers in production in the quarter and more than ten in the qualification phase.
On SmartSiCTM, our roadmap is on track on all aspects: technology, industrial, supply and commercial. We have secured a second customer, with production scheduled to start in the second part of calendar year 2024.
The ongoing deployment of our strong megatrends across our three strategic end markets and our expanding product portfolio support our sustainable growth story. We now expect our $2.1bn revenue outlook to be postponed by around a year.”
FY’24 revenue guidance is revised: revenue is expected to be down around 10% year-on-year at constant exchange rates and perimeter as opposed to a mid-single digit decrease previously expected, and EBITDA margin at around 34% as opposed to around 35%.
Original – Soitec
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Soitec announced the launch of a new industrial installation allowing wafer rinse water to be partially reused in the production of ultra-pure water for cleanrooms at its French manufacturing facilities.
Thanks to this innovation, the first of its kind in Europe at this scale, Soitec intends to increase significantly the proportion water that can be reused in its industrial processes. The wastewater reuse rate at its historic site in Bernin (Isère) is thereby expected to rise from 19% in 2023 to over 35% in 2024.
This solution, developed by Soitec in Bernin over three years, represents an important milestone in Soitec’s continuous improvement of resource management, one of the key pillars of its sustainable development strategy.
Cyril Menon, Soitec Chief Operations Officer: “This manufacturing process innovation is an illustration of Soitec’s commitment over several years to limit the intake of fresh water, a critical resource for semiconductor materials production. It is a significant milestone that we have reached. The introduction of this new process demonstrates that we can produce more with less, contributing to a more sustainable future.”
Soitec puts efficient management of natural resources at the heart of its commitment to sustainable development. While water is essential for the semiconductor industry, Soitec is well aware that it is a rare and precious resource that must be used responsibly and equitably by all.
From 2015 onwards, Soitec committed itself to a series of action plans to mitigate its impact on water resources. Soitec reduced its overall water consumption per unit produced by 30% between 2021 and 2023, and is targeting a further 30% reduction by 2030.
Original – Soitec
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Soitec announced its revenue for the second quarter of fiscal year 2024 and its results for the first half of fiscal year 2024 (ended on September 30th, 2023). The financial statements were approved by the Board of Directors during its meeting today.
- Q2’24 revenue reached €245m, down 7% at constant exchange rates and perimeter compared to Q2’23
- H1’24 revenue at €401m, down 15% both at constant exchange rates and perimeter and on a reported basis compared with H1’23 – in line with guidance
- H1’24 EBITDA margin stood at the robust level of 33% of revenue while the Company maintained significant investment in R&D
- Anticipated return to a slight year-on-year organic growth in H2’24, leading to a moderate downward revision of FY24 outlook: mid-single digit decline in FY’24 revenue expected at constant exchange rate and EBITDA1 margin2 anticipated around 35%
Pierre Barnabé, Soitec’s CEO, commented: “With a sequential growth of over 50% compared to the first quarter, our second-quarter revenue rebounded significantly, as we had anticipated. This was particularly the case in Mobile Communications as the inventory correction across the smartphone value chain eased. We continue to leverage strong demand in Automotive to deploy our SmartSiC™roadmap and we continue to progress actively with several customers.
Overall, our first half revenue is in line with our expectations. We have maintained strong profitability and a solid financial position, while continuing to invest in R&D and industrial capacity, as well as building inventories to prepare for H2’24.
Looking ahead, we maintain our growth perspectives for the second part of the fiscal year. We note however that the absorption of RF-SOI inventories at our customers level will last longer than anticipated. At the same time, we continue to expect sustained demand in Automotive & Industrial as well as in Smart Devices. Consequently, we now anticipate a full-fiscal-year revenue decline of around mid-single digit percentage, and an EBITDA margin of around 35%. After this transition year, we will resume our growth trajectory” added Pierre Barnabé.
FY’24 outlook
Soitec confirms growth recovery in the second half of FY’24. Against the backdrop of a weaker-than-expected smartphone market, the extent of the inventory correction at our customers level is greater than anticipated. We confirm strong traction for our Automotive & Industrial and Smart Devices divisions. We now anticipate our FY’24 revenue to slightly decline, by around a mid-single digit percentage, compared to FY’23, at constant exchange rates and perimeter.
As a result, FY’24 EBITDA margin is now expected to be around 35% of revenue. The Group will continue to implement cost control measures, while further investing significantly in R&D.
FY’24 Capital expenditure is expected to be around 290 million Euros in order to support growth beyond FY’24. Soitec’s growth outlook remain very strong: while the SOI content within end devices continues to increase, the ongoing penetration of the Group’s products across its three end markets and the successful deployment of its expansion into Compound Semiconductors with POI and SmartSiC™ becoming new significant growth drivers in the future.
Original – Soitec
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Soitec opened its new plant in Bernin, near Grenoble, in the presence of Thierry Breton, European Commissioner for the Internal Market and Roland Lescure, French Minister Delegate for Industry.
Soitec has developed its SmartSiC™ technology as a response to vehicle electrification challenges.
The technology, based on silicon carbide (SiC), sets a new standard with improved efficiency for energy conversion systems. Thanks to its reduced energy losses, better thermal management and improved power density, the material increases the range and performance of electric vehicles.
Through the application of SmartCut™ technology, each SiC substrate can be used 10 times.
As a result, SmartSiC™ enables electric vehicles to achieve ranges above 500 km, compared with an average 350 km for vehicles using silicon IGBT alternatives – while also reducing CO2 emissions during wafer manufacturing by 70% compared to monocrystalline SiC substrates.
Development of the technology began in 2020 in partnership with CEA-Leti and has received financial support from the French state, the region, local authorities and the European Union.
A new production facility in step with Soitec’s ambition
The new plant will have a 2,500 m2 footprint and a final production capacity of 500,000 SmartSiC™ wafers per year.
It will contribute to Soitec’s strategy of sustainable growth towards a threefold expansion of addressable markets by 2030, reinforcing the company’s leadership position in the strategic semiconductor materials market.
The new plant will lead to the creation of 400 direct jobs, while also reinforcing the attractiveness and dynamism of the “French Silicon Valley” ecosystem.
Pierre Barnabé, Chief Executive Officer of Soitec, stated: “More than ever we are ready to establish our SmartSiC™ technology as a new standard in semiconductor materials for coming generations of electric cars. This plant will enable us to meet growing demand for silicon carbide and achieve a 30% market share by 2030, while helping to make electric mobility more efficient and affordable. Completed in record time, it is the embodiment of our industrial performance and our future-facing strategy, based on the expansion of our product and technology portfolio.
This is also an important day for our region, which is once again showing its dynamic and exemplary approach to industrial innovation, with technologies designed, developed, and manufactured within our ecosystem. We will create jobs and continue to showcase French and European knowhow in global semiconductor markets.”
Original – Soitec
