[News] Onsemi Reportedly Plans Up to 300 Job Cuts in Czech Plant as Low-cost Chinese SiC Competition Intensifies - TrendForce

Amid intensifying competition from Chinese SiC suppliers, Onsemi is reportedly planning up to 300 job cuts at its Czech plant, reflecting growing pressure in the face of low-cost Chinese competition. ... Read original →

Onsemi’s planned 300 layoffs in its Czech facility signal a structural shift in the global SiC landscape, not merely cost-cutting. Chinese players like SICC and TankeBlue, leveraging subsidized power and aggressive vertical integration, have driven 6-inch SiC wafer costs below 60% of Western levels—undermining the economics of traditional IDM models. Technically, this accelerates the migration toward 8-inch SiC foundry models and may erode the strategic primacy of pure SiC devices as AI data centers and EVs increasingly adopt hybrid GaN/SiC architectures. From a compliance standpoint, any EU ‘de-risking’ measures restricting Chinese SiC imports would ironically inflate local manufacturing costs and heighten supply fragility. Over the next 12–24 months, Western firms will likely retreat from wafer fabrication and double down on automotive-grade packaging and reliability certification—a moat Chinese suppliers can’t quickly replicate. The real battle has shifted from capacity to control over standards and ecosystems.