Le leader mondial Wolfspeed dépose le bilan, TianYue Advanced et TianKe HeDa enregistrent tous deux des pertes. Jusqu'à quand le marché des substrats en carbure de silicium va-t-il continuer à faire rage ?

Produced by: Sina Finance Listed Company Research Institute

Author: Guangxin

On the evening of March 27, 2026, Tianyue Advanced released its 2025 annual report. The company achieved an annual revenue of 1.465 billion yuan, down 17.15% year-on-year, with a net loss attributable to shareholders of 208 million yuan, turning from profit to loss.

However, market reaction to the annual report was quite positive. After its release, the company’s stock price rose for three consecutive trading days, with a cumulative increase of 10.94% by the close on April 1.

From major financial forums, most investors focus on production and sales data. In 2025, the company’s silicon carbide substrate production volume was 690,400 wafers, a year-on-year increase of 68.31%, and sales volume was 633,300 wafers, up 54.90%.

Regarding the reasons for the performance decline, the company stated that mainly the decrease in the average price of silicon carbide substrates led to a drop in revenue and gross profit, compounded by increased sales and R&D expenses year-on-year, as well as higher income tax expenses and late payment penalties.

Calculating the unit price based on the formula “silicon carbide substrate revenue / sales volume,” Tianyue Advanced’s single wafer price has fallen from 4,080 yuan in 2024 to 2,304 yuan, a decline of 56%.

Whether the company actively lowered prices to compete in the market or passively joined price wars, this decline appears quite brutal. Coupled with the news that Wolfspeed, a global pioneer and absolute leader in silicon carbide, filed for bankruptcy, the silicon carbide substrate market in 2025 was indeed a bloodbath.

**　　In recent years, downstream price wars have been fierce, and competitors like Tianke Heda have been loss-making for years**

Silicon carbide (SiC), as a typical third-generation semiconductor material, has physical advantages such as a wide bandgap, high breakdown electric field, and high thermal conductivity compared to traditional silicon-based (first-generation semiconductor) and compound (second-generation semiconductor) materials like gallium arsenide/indium phosphide, making it an ideal material for high voltage, high temperature, and high frequency applications. Currently, it is mainly used in various industrial scenarios.

According to estimates by Forrester Sullivan, within the current and next five years, xEv (electric vehicles, hybrid vehicles, broadly categorized as new energy vehicles) will be the main application field for silicon carbide, with market share always exceeding 70%.

Projection of silicon carbide market size in various fields from 2019 to 2030 (Source: Forrester Sullivan)

In recent years, new energy vehicle companies have been intensely competitive, and the price war in the 2025 car market was particularly brutal. Various replacement subsidies, scrapping subsidies, and manufacturer subsidies layered on top of each other, many models offered unprecedented low prices. Coupled with rising raw material costs, the cost constraints for new energy vehicle companies tightened, and the upstream silicon carbide industry inevitably faced shocks.

According to brokerage research reports, the leading domestic N-type silicon carbide substrate suppliers are Tianyue Advanced and Tianke Heda, with global market shares of 17.3% and 17.1% respectively, totaling 34.4%, surpassing Wolfspeed, the top global silicon carbide substrate company.

2024 global revenue share of N-type silicon carbide substrate suppliers (Source: brokerage research reports)

However, as price wars deepened in 2025, Tianyue Advanced again turned to losses in net profit attributable to shareholders, and its competitor Tianke Heda also faced difficulties.

Tianke Heda’s full name is Beijing Tianke Heda Semiconductor Co., Ltd. It was jointly established in September 2006 by Xinjiang Tianfu Group and the Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, four years earlier than Tianyue Advanced, making it one of the earliest domestic companies engaged in silicon carbide semiconductor R&D.

In May 2017, Tianke Heda was listed on the New Third Board, but it terminated the listing in August 2019. Afterwards, it attempted to list on the STAR Market; its application was accepted in July 2020, but by October 2020, the review status was updated to terminated, marking the failure of its IPO.

Financial data disclosed during its listing period shows that from 2018 to 2019, its revenue was lower than Tianyue Advanced’s, but it had achieved profitability, with a net profit attributable to shareholders of 30.04 million yuan in 2019, while Tianyue Advanced posted -201 million yuan.

There are signs that Tianke Heda has also fallen into consecutive losses in recent years.

According to the financial report of Tianfu Energy, the second largest shareholder of Tianke Heda, from 2022 to the first half of 2025, Tianke Heda, as a long-term equity investment, recognized gains and losses of -6.6 million yuan, 8.36 million yuan, -19.49 million yuan, and -14.09 million yuan respectively, based on the equity method. During this period, Tianfu Energy held 9.09% of Tianke Heda, meaning Tianke Heda’s profits/losses each period were approximately -72.63 million yuan, 91.94 million yuan, -214 million yuan, and -155 million yuan. In three and a half years, it only turned a profit once, with recent losses exceeding 100 million yuan, suffering heavy blood loss.

**　　Overseas leader files for bankruptcy; auto price wars reverse; is silicon carbide entering a spring?**

In May 2025, according to U.S. media reports, Wolfspeed was working with bankruptcy advisors to prepare to file for bankruptcy protection within weeks, seeking solutions to its massive debt.

Following this news, Wolfspeed’s stock price plummeted 60% overnight, ranking first on the U.S. stock decline list.

Wolfspeed’s predecessor Cree was founded in 1987, initially focusing on silicon carbide-based blue LED products, and later launched the world’s first commercial silicon carbide wafer, often regarded as the pioneer of silicon carbide.

As the lighting business gradually declined, Cree divested its LED division in 2016, and in October 2021, it officially renamed itself Wolfspeed, transforming into a company focused on third-generation semiconductors.

Between 2021 and 2024, Wolfspeed aggressively expanded its manufacturing capacity, but this coincided with the underwhelming electrification of the European and American auto markets. Orders from automakers sharply decreased, and the company’s capacity advantage turned into depreciation burdens. Facing continuous huge losses, Wolfspeed finally announced the initiation of bankruptcy restructuring.

Market opinions suggest that the homogeneity of silicon carbide substrate products leads to price competition, and China manufacturers’ price advantage in global competition is a key factor behind Wolfspeed’s insolvency.

Currently, Wolfspeed’s poor performance and shrinking capacity utilization will further impact economies of scale, increase costs, and weaken product price competitiveness. This may create opportunities for Chinese manufacturers to reshape the global silicon carbide substrate market landscape.

Meanwhile, China’s new energy vehicle market has recently undergone a strategic “big U-turn.” Over the past few years, car companies that believed in “price to gain volume” have begun to collectively raise prices.

According to incomplete statistics, as of March 29, 2026, more than 15 new energy vehicle companies had announced price increases or reduction of discounts, with increases ranging from 2000 to 20,000 yuan.

It is reported that this round of price adjustments mainly targets the 100,000-200,000 yuan market, with increases of 3%-5%; the 200,000-300,000 yuan market saw increases of 2%-4%; high-end markets above 300,000 yuan increased by 1%-3%; and entry-level cars below 100,000 yuan maintained discounts, continuing volume strategies.

Notably, all factors indicate that this round of price hikes is more driven by cost factors.

Recently, lithium prices surged sharply. UBS estimates that rising lithium carbonate prices have increased per-vehicle costs by 3,000 to 5,000 yuan. Additionally, AI’s significant occupation of automotive-grade chip capacity and increased costs for storage chips have driven up the cost of vehicle intelligence by 2,000 to 3,000 yuan. Meanwhile, the exemption from vehicle purchase tax has been officially phased out, and local subsidies have been tightened, making price increases a helpless move to maintain profitability.

In this context, what will happen to silicon carbide companies whose product prices have already been halved? The answer remains to be seen over time.