CG Power subsidiary Axiro invests in US-based ThinSiC - Power Peak Digest

Axiro's stake in ThinSiC is not a routine VC ticket—it is India's strategic wedge into the SiC substrate layer, where the real bottleneck lives. Bulk wafer resistance above 500 μm dominates device-level Rds(on); pushing substrates below 100 μm cuts conduction losses by 20%+, a step-change for 800 V traction inverters. The technical ripple cuts both ways. If ThinSiC's laser-lifting or ion-implant thinning reaches volume, it undercuts the thick-wafer pricing power of Wolfspeed, Coherent, and SiCrystal. For Axiro, vertical integration from thin substrate to MOSFET on Indian soil could shave 15–25% off module BOM versus import-dependent peers. Geopolitically, the timing is deliberate. With US export controls on advanced SiC materials tightening toward China, New Delhi is exploiting the friend-shoring window to lock in American IP through minority stakes—sidestepping CFIUS while securing technology licensing. This mirrors the PLI 2.0 playbook almost exactly. Over the next 12–24 months, expect three accelerations: ThinSiC will likely close a Series A+ or be absorbed by a Tier-1 IDM by 2026; Wolfspeed and Coherent will rush proprietary thin-wafer lines as a defensive response; and Indian state-linked players such as Bharat Electronics or Tata Power will follow with parallel investments, sketching the outline of a SiC India consortium.