Dongfeng Motor Co has been making breakthroughs in the research, development and production of automotive chip modules, and will put a new production line - with an annual output of 300,000 sets of insulated-gate bipolar transistor modules (IGBT modules) - into mass production in April.
The production line has been installed and debugged, and is currently undergoing small-batch trial production.
The overall performance of Dongfeng-produced IGBT modules is comparable to similar foreign products, but the price is half that of imports.
Since late December 2020, due to the shortage of automotive chips, six major auto companies including Volkswagen, Ford, Fiat Chrysler, and Toyota have started global production reduction plans, and some factories have temporarily suspended production.
The production line is developed by Zhixin Semiconductor Co, a subsidiary of Dongfeng Motor Co.
The IGBT module is one of the core components in the electronic control system of new energy vehicles. It directly controls the core indicators of the vehicle's AC/DC conversion, and its high and low voltage power regulation.
China's new energy vehicle production and sales have ranked first in the world for five consecutive years. In 2020, the production and sales of new energy vehicles exceeded 1.3 million, but domestic power semiconductor modules for electric vehicles have long been dependent on imports.
In 2018, Dongfeng decided to work with CRRC Corporation Limited to start independent research, development and production of automotive-grade IGBT chip modules to replace imports and build a safe and stable battery, motor, and electronic control technology supply chain.
With stable product performance, the IGBT samples Dongfeng has produced have successfully passed relevant tests and obtained orders from companies such as United Automotive Electronics Systems Co.
