Since 2026, the power semiconductor sector has witnessed intensive global price hikes.
In February, Infineon fired the first shot, with the first round of price hike notices taking effect on April 1, reflecting an increase of 5%–15%; STMicroelectronics issued its first price adjustment notice on March 24, effective April 26. Domestic manufacturers quickly followed suit, with Silan Micro and NCE Power taking the baton in March; Yangjie Technology adjusted prices for some new orders through distributor channels in late March; Jiejie Microelectronics acted even earlier, raising prices for finished MOS products by 10%–20% starting February 1.
Entering the second quarter, the frequency of price adjustments continued to intensify. Overseas, Infineon issued a second round of notices in May, effective July 1, with an additional 10%–20% increase for certain categories; STMicroelectronics sent out its second round of notices on May 28, effective June 28. Domestically: Yangjie Technology raised prices across its entire product line by another 10%–15% on July 1, marking its second adjustment this year; Jiejie Microelectronics continued to increase IGBT prices by 10%–20% starting May 1; StarPower also announced direct price hikes of over 15% for IGBT and SiC MOSFET modules and discrete devices, effective July 1.
Such a high density of price hike notices has not been seen in recent years. The author has reviewed the semi-annual performance of domestic manufacturers whose main business is power devices to see how these adjustments have impacted their financials.
Simultaneous Tightening of Three Chains Makes Price Hikes Inevitable
Let us first trace back the main reasons for this round of price hikes.
This round of power device price hikes cannot be simply attributed to the single narrative of surging demand from new scenarios such as AI data centers and embodied intelligence. Rather, it is the result of the simultaneous tightening of three chains: demand pull, cost push, and capacity crowding out.
Demand Side: Surging Demand for AI Server Power Supplies, 800V HVDC, and Embodied Intelligence
In the first half of 2026, driven by sectors such as AI data centers, NEVs (New Energy Vehicles), solar and energy storage, and embodied intelligence, the prosperity of the power semiconductor industry has significantly improved compared to the previous period, showing a trend of "demand expansion and accelerated domestic substitution."
Specifically, driven by the accelerated construction of AI computing infrastructure, the global demand for efficient power conversion and power management solutions in data centers has been released in a concentrated manner. Application scenarios such as AI server power supplies and 800V HVDC have seen rapid volume growth in demand for rectifier devices, MOSFETs, IGBTs, and SiC products. Meanwhile, propelled by multiple factors including technology iteration, policy support, and capital investment, the embodied intelligence and humanoid robot industries are accelerating the transition from prototype verification to scenario implementation, leading to rapid growth in demand for power semiconductors used in high-power-density actuators and precision electronic control.
At the same time, domestic enterprises have steadily increased their market share, gradually penetrating the high-end market, with domestic substitution accelerating continuously. Facing fierce market competition, downstream enterprises are in urgent need of cost-reduction solutions and are gradually shifting from exclusively adopting international brand components to introducing high-quality domestic suppliers. This has created favorable conditions for local power semiconductor companies to expand into overseas markets and increase their global market share.
Cost Side: Across-the-Board Increases in Silicon Wafers, Foundry, Packaging and Testing, and Metal Materials
In the second half of 2025, global 8-inch silicon wafers took the lead in price hikes, with a single-round increase of 10%–12%, directly driving up the costs of mature process nodes.
In the first half of 2026, the pressure transmitted across the entire industry chain. Foundry quotes generally rose by 5%–15%. For power and automotive rigid-demand chips, because capacity was locked up by AI server power supplies and 800V platforms, the price increases hit the upper limit of the range. In addition, as prices for various industrial metal materials rose, packaging and testing prices followed suit with a synchronized increase of 5%–30%. Every step from silicon wafers to packaging and testing saw price hikes.
Cost pressure ultimately hit the financial statements of device manufacturers. In its June price hike notice, Yangjie Technology explicitly stated that upstream chip wafers, bulk metals, and packaging raw materials have seen continuous price increases across the board, and the cost increment has exceeded the internally digestible range.
Supply Side: Active Contraction by Overseas Giants, Local Manufacturers Taking Spillover Orders
Over 70% of power device capacity relies on 8-inch mature process nodes. TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company) and Samsung are continuously cutting 8-inch mature process capacity, while Infineon and onsemi's in-house 8-inch production lines are already at full load with no spare capacity for external foundry services. A large volume of mature process orders from overseas terminal customers is shifting to wafer fabs in mainland China. Hua Hong's Wuxi 8-inch fab, SMIC (Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation) North/Shanghai 8-inch lines, and CR Micro and Silan Micro are leveraging the IDM model to simultaneously expand their in-house power production lines to absorb the spillover.
TrendForce estimates that global 8-inch capacity dropped by 0.3% year-on-year in 2025 and is expected to fall by another 2.4% in 2026. Power semiconductors happen to be highly dependent on this compressed channel. In 2026, the average capacity utilization rate of 8-inch capacity among the world's top ten wafer foundries will climb from 75%–80% in 2025 to 85%–90%. The utilization rate of domestic power-related 8-inch production lines generally exceeds 90%, with some running at full capacity.
Meanwhile, a Morgan Stanley report disclosed that the value of power semiconductors in a single AI server is 8 to 18 times that of a traditional server, and AI-related orders have already captured over 30% of mature wafer capacity.
Gross Margin Significantly Improved in Q2, but Q3 Is the Real Highlight
Let us first look at the overall performance in the first half of 2026.
In terms of revenue, except for StarPower, the revenue of other leading manufacturers in the first half of the year basically maintained a growth rate of over 20%, significantly outperforming the low single-digit revenue growth of Infineon and onsemi during the same period, which also corresponds to the trend of "accelerated domestic substitution."
StarPower stated that in the first half of 2026, affected by phased demand fluctuations in the NEV sector and the high base formed by the concentrated grid connection of new energy power generation projects in the same period last year, its new energy industry achieved an operating revenue of 1.02 billion RMB, a year-on-year decrease of 16.02%. In addition to this, the author speculates that there are also structural industry competition factors: StarPower has a high proportion of IGBT business, and there is a possibility of other manufacturers continuously eroding its market share. Moreover, with the increasing penetration rate of SiC devices, the share of IGBTs is also being eroded. The main pain point of StarPower's current performance is the issue of competition.
Looking at the net profit attributable to shareholders excluding non-recurring gains and losses for the first half of the year. The net profits attributable to shareholders excluding non-recurring gains and losses of Yangjie Technology, Jiejie Microelectronics, and Galaxy Micro all showed a high growth trend, increasing by 29.6%, 20.9%, and 134.8% respectively, consistent with the changes in revenue;
However, although NCE Power and Oriental Semiconductor maintained a revenue growth rate of around 20%, their net profits excluding non-recurring gains and losses recorded negative growth, decreasing by 6.49% and 92.9% respectively. Oriental's gross margin and net profit margin levels were already around the break-even point, and due to the base effect, the magnitude of profit growth/decline rates does not indicate much; whereas NCE Power's gross margin dropped significantly from 35.8% in H1 2025 to 30% in H1 2026.
In addition, StarPower's net profit excluding non-recurring gains and losses decreased by 82.3% in the first half of the year. It stated that this was mainly due to the increase in raw material costs for power modules and the price reductions of products in the previous year. During this period, StarPower's gross margin dropped from 29.7% in H1 2025 to 20.6% in H1 2026. The significant drop in gross margin and the intensifying competition, to some extent, corroborate the author's speculation.
Notably, the revenue and net profit excluding non-recurring gains and losses in the first half of the year are compared with the same period last year, which cannot accurately reflect the impact of price hikes in the first half of this year on performance, considering the price fluctuations of power devices in the second half of 2025. However, the changes in gross margins between Q1 2026 and Q2 2026 allow us to observe the quarter-on-quarter impact of price hikes on the performance of power device manufacturers in the first half of the year.
Among the aforementioned six manufacturers, price hikes in the first quarter were basically only targeted at certain products, and the time frame for the price increases did not cover the entire first quarter, whereas it covered the entire second quarter, with many manufacturers implementing further price hikes in the second quarter. Therefore, setting aside other variables, the gross margins of these manufacturers in the second quarter should be higher than those in the first quarter.
In fact, the Q2 2026 gross margins of Jiejie Microelectronics, Galaxy Micro, NCE Power, and Oriental were indeed higher than those in Q1 2026, whereas Yangjie Technology and StarPower did not follow this trend, with their gross margins actually declining in the second quarter. The author believes this may be related to the timing of their price hikes: StarPower announced direct price hikes of over 15% for IGBT and SiC MOSFET modules and discrete devices starting July 1, without any prior price increases; Yangjie Technology raised prices across its entire product line by 10%–15% on July 1 (although it raised prices for some new orders through distributor channels in March, the coverage of product categories and the extent of the price hikes were not disclosed).
Regarding the recent price hikes, a Yangjie Technology representative stated that the previous price adjustment started on March 1 and was targeted, focusing on some silicon-based products with low gross margins, whereas this time it covers the entire product series.
The gross margin levels of Yangjie Technology and StarPower may see a significant upward trend in the third quarter.
Therefore, looking at the gross margins in Q2 2026, power device manufacturers as a whole are indeed benefiting from the industry-wide price hikes in the first half of the year. Meanwhile, with the comprehensive implementation of price hikes in the third quarter, the gross margin levels of Yangjie Technology and StarPower will usher in an upward trend at that time.
Final Thoughts
So, with price hike notices flying everywhere, have local power device manufacturers actually made a profit?
Taking the first half of the year as the time dimension, there is indeed a trend of profit divergence.
Taking the quarter as the time dimension, the entire power device industry is benefiting from the industry-wide price hikes in the first half of the year. For manufacturers that were slightly delayed in their price hike actions, the gross margin level may see a significant improvement in the third quarter.