Silicon Carbide Supply Chain Shifts as China Builds a Second Chokepoint in Power Electronics

Highlights

• China's SICC holds 27.6% of global N-type SiC substrate share in 2025, surpassing Wolfspeed, while controlling ~85% of upstream silicon-metal capacity.
• The real chokepoint is manufacturing difficulty—crystal growth, wafer yield, and automotive qualification—not geological scarcity of raw materials.
• Western governments are investing billions: SK Siltron CSS in Michigan, Bosch's $1.9B Roseville conversion, and STMicroelectronics' €5B Catania campus.
• Wolfspeed's Chapter 11 filing illustrates the Transition Vulnerability Window: strategic importance does not guarantee economic viability against Chinese price pressure.
• The key metric for supply chain resilience is qualified yield at competitive cost, not announced capacity alone.