The related packaging market will have a 12.5% CAGR during the same period, to about $3.5 billion.
The cost of raw materials for power module packaging represents about 33% of the total power module cost.
Packaging is moving towards high-performance materials, a reduction in the number of layers, smaller sizes, and fewer interfaces while conserving electrical, thermal, and mechanical characteristics.
Power packaging market leaders increasingly face strong competition from China – StarPower, CRRC, BYD, and MICMAC are a few of the country’s leading packaging companies.
There is a trend among power module packaging companies to diversify their business and/or regional portfolio. – Increasing activities in ongoing development, partnerships, and M&As between the various companies along the power module supply chain.
More than a dozen automotive OEMs are actively developing proprietary power module solutions.
“In 2020, motor drives represented the most significant power module market with a value of $1.6 billion,” says Yole’s Shalu Agarwal, “however, by 2026, EV/HEVs will become the most significant power module market, representing a market value of almost $3.6 billion. In addition, the power module packaging raw materials market is growing and will reach $3.5 billion by 2026.”
“Today, silicon-based power modules are the standard for EV/HEV systems. However, SiC semiconductors provide higher efficiency compared to silicon-based die,” says Agarwal, “therefore SiC-based power modules are also gaining popularity in the automotive market. The introduction of SiC technology pushes the development of new power packaging solutions as SiC devices can work at higher junction temperatures and higher switching frequencies with smaller die sizes.”
Power module packaging solutions are moving towards high-performance materials while reducing the number of layers, the size, and interfaces and conserving electrical, thermal, and mechanical characteristics.
The business opportunity in the power module packaging market attracts interest from different players in the power electronics supply chains.
However, power module packaging technology is more than just wire bonding, soldering, and encapsulation.
Packaging technologies, especially for applications with a strong demand for power density, performance, and reliability, are very complex and require specific know-how.
Many newcomers in power module packaging have underestimated package complexity and struggle to bring their packaging concepts to commercial production.
Initially, they targeted performance and reliability. Nowadays, many players must refocus their development efforts on manufacturing processes and material choices to achieve acceptable manufacturing yield and throughput and reduce manufacturing costs.
Therefore, external partners with the required know-how are more than welcome to accelerate development time.