Cree, Inc. (NASDAQ: CREE), a global leader in silicon carbide (SiC) semiconductors, and ZF Friedrichshafen AG, Germany, announced a strategic cooperation to develop industry-leading high-efficiency electric drives device.
Through this strategic cooperation, Cree and ZF will strengthen the existing cooperation. Jörg Grotendorst, head of the ZF E-Mobility business unit, said: "We are very pleased to establish a partnership with Cree. By combining Cree's Wolfspeed SiC technology with ZF's advantages, we firmly believe that we will further improve the efficiency and efficiency of our components and systems. Competitive Advantage."
Compared with the current standard silicon (Si) technology, the future use of SiC-based power semiconductors will increase the range of electric vehicles (EV). In view of the high cost of batteries, high-efficiency electric drives will bring huge growth potential in the foreseeable future. In particular, SiC technology and the vehicle electrical system with 800V voltage will make a significant contribution to further improving efficiency.
Gregg Lowe, CEO of Cree, said: "Cooperating with the world's leading Tier 1 automotive suppliers such as ZF to adopt SiC-based power inverters in the next generation of electric vehicles shows that SiC is fully expanding its Automotive applications also play an indispensable role. "
Electrified power systems are making a huge contribution to achieving global emissions reduction goals and making transportation more sustainable. ZF has already received orders for SiC-based electric drives from several leading global car manufacturers. Cree technology will be used to meet ZF's current order requirements. Through this strategic cooperation, ZF is expected to officially launch SiC electrified power systems on the market by 2022.
ZF started to set up the E-Mobility business unit in Schweinfurt, Germany in January 2016 to develop the electric transportation business. The division currently has more than 9,000 employees, distributed in different regions of the world.
Cree is committed to leading the global transformation from Si to SiC, and recently announced a plan to expand SiC capacity, planning to build a super materials plant in Durham, North Carolina, and the world's largest SiC device manufacturing in New York factory. Cree's Wolfspeed business unit provides rich solutions for power and RF based on SiC and GaN.