Beijing (ZXZC)- Great Wall Motor announced that it had inked a strategic investment agreement with China’s third-generation semiconductor supplier, Hebei Synlight Crystal Co., Ltd. (Synlight Crystal), marking the automaker’s foray into the semiconductor field.

SiC monocrystalline substrate; photo credit: Synlight Crystal

Great Wall Motor will be a new shareholder to Synlight Crystal. The automaker will help to accelerate the latter’s SiC business development and further the application of the third-generation wide bandgap semiconductor SiC on new energy vehicles, thus promoting the industrialization of SiC material and chips.

Founded in 2012, Synlight Crystal is a leader in the third-generation semiconductor field. The company has formed a cooperation with the Institute of Semiconductors of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, dedicated to the R&D, manufacturing, and sales of SiC monocrystalline.

Synlight Crystal is also the first high-tech company to mass-produce the SiC monocrystalline substrate. In August, the company’s first production expansion project has started operation. The company plans to establish a growth and fabrication base consisting of 2,000 units SiC crystal growing furnace, with a designed production capacity of 600,000 pieces.

The investment move aligns with Great Wall Motor’s devotion to the new energy vehicle business territory. The automaker intends to invest in key technologies in the following five years, including the third-generation semiconductor.

Notably, SiC products have already been implemented onto the automaker’s young high-end EV brand, Shalong. Great Wall Motor said that Shalong’s future models would continue to adopt SiC products on a large scale.