USA / Japan – Earlier this month, components giant, Denso Corporation* of Kariya, Aichi Prefecture, Japan announced a minority investment of USD 500 million into Coherent Corp**, a company based in Saxonburg, Pennsylvania, USA, that supplies materials used to make chips for the automotive industry. The investment will target Coherent’s silicon carbide unit, which will be separated into an independent subsidiary named Silicon Carbide LLC. This investment gives Denso a 12.5% non-controlling equity stake in Silicon Carbide LLC and most importantly secures access to and supply of SiC wafers for its electric components.

The agreement is in line with Denso’s plans to invest USD 1 billion over the next 10 years to expand its production of silicon carbide wafers and to help boost the range of high performance electrical components it can produce. The company explained that chips made with silicon carbide are used in applications that require massive quantities of power conversion such as inverters and drivetrains in electric vehicles.