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Build your dreams. That is the message after the acronym for Byd (“Build Your Dreams”, in English), the electric car manufacturer that is becoming absolute leader of the market. Only in 2024 he distributed 4.27 million electric cars and plug -in hybrids, 2.5 times more than Tesla (1.7 million). Its market domain is currently imperial.
It is remarkable that unlike other electric car manufacturers, ByD is responsible for manufacturing practically all the critical components of those vehicles. Not only batteries, but electric motors, chassis and, attention, semiconductors used in such vehicles.
It does it through semiconductor byd, which As Nomad Semi points out It is one of its most important divisions after its subsidiary Findreams Battery, in charge of manufacturing the batteries.
The company was founded in 1995 by Wang Chuanfu and initially focused on the development of rechargeable batteries. In 2003 he already sold more than anyone in that sector, and that was when it was introduced into the car industry when buying the Xi’an qinchhuan Automobile Company. But before something unique happened.
When TSMC decided to sell one of its factories
Just a year earlier, in 2002, a semiconductor Byd, a division was created Fables “Chips said, but delegated her manufacture in other companies (Foundries) – destined to develop integrated circuits for protects their batteries and thus avoid overheating or overloads.
In 2004 TSMC made the decision to close Fab 1its first manufacturing plant, and in 2005 it ended up selling all the equipment and were used for a fable of six -inch silicon wafers (popular in the 1990s, but already somewhat obsolete) of the manufacturer semiconductor symptoms. This company licensed TSMC patents and also had engineers who had previously worked for that firm.
Things did not just go well and Ningo Sinomos went through economic difficulties. Byd took the opportunity and bought this company for 29 million dollars.
The company founded by Wang was already involved in the development of electric cars and made a remarkable leap here: to be able to develop its own chips, it went from being a company without its own production (Fables) to an IDM (integrated device manufacturer) that I had control of all phases of the development of its chips, from design to production.
Chips everywhere
Since then, Byd’s activity accelerated and expanded its product catalog. Thus, they developed chips to manage the management of the electricity supply (IGBTS, MOSFETS, DIODES, Integrated Current Circuits), but also microcontrollers (MCU), sensors (temperature, pressure, position, current) and optolectronic chips (photodetector, octoacopladores, etc.).
Source: Nomad Semi
Among them, The most outstanding are IGBTS (Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor). These are specially important components for current investment systems, acting as electronic switches that help in the process of passing continuous current that batteries provide to the alternating current needed by electric motors.
Byd Semiconductor began to develop its first IGBT chips in 2005, and since then it has been creating new and better versions. Its most recent IGBT 6.0 chips were launched in 2022 and are almost as good as the most advanced competitors such as Infineon. That has allowed Byd to become the most important IGBT provider for Chinese manufacturers.
Their advances with the aforementioned IGBTS are an important example of the growth of the division: Semiconductor ByD already has various subsidiaries and factories that produce 8 and 12 inches wafers, much more modern and that have allowed to create increasingly advanced chips.
New developments for autonomous driving and supervoid load
In fact, in November 2024 They announced A collaboration with TSMC and Mediatek for the development of two new chips. One of them, For its autonomous driving systems/driving assistance, is the future substitute for those used so far in their vehicles (Nvidia Orin and Horizon Robotics J6E), and offers a Autonomous Level 3.
Interior of the Byd Atto 2
The second is the Byd9000, a chip with 4 Nm photolithography based on the MediaTak Dimensity 9000 and is oriented to advanced infotainment systems.
But there are more examples, and one of them is in the developments Silicon carbide -based that for years are increasingly important in electric cars.
Byd has been working with this type of material for some time and in fact in March 2025 he presented his super and platform, a system that provides Superápida load in electric vehicles allowing loads of 100 kWh batteries in just 6 minutes.
This achievement occurred thanks to the development of specialized chips of 1,500V by the semiconductor byd, which for the first time can apply them in the automotive industry. These chips are capable of managing a greater voltage, and in front of traditional electric vehicles that use 400 and 800 volts systems allow to reduce energy losses and make possible faster loads.
Good news for byd, bad for the rest
He Silent boom of semiconductor ByD as a supplier of this type of chips can generate a trend among other car manufacturers, which so far have delegated that part of the business in specialized companies such as Infineon, NXP, ONSEMI, Texas Instrumental or Renesas.
All of them dominate the semiconductor market for the automotive industry, but things could change. Especially since electric cars use many more components of this type than combustion motor cars, and that makes the vertical integration through which Byd (almost everything in their cars they manufacture it) is especially interesting for manufacturers.
Nomad Semi analysts believe that NXP, ONSEMI and INFINON are the ones at risk They are for that trend. According to their data, the car industry represents half of its sales, but also the income in China are especially important for the aforementioned and renesses.
Are we therefore facing a new semiconductor giant? Of course, not in the broad sense of the word: Semiconductor ByD focuses completely on the chips and components destined for its vehicles, but of course that frantic growth of Byd growth in the electric car industry can put very difficult things to its rivals in this sector.
Image | Byd | Wikimedia
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