AI, EVs drive demand surge for South Korea’s power chips

Power semiconductor manufacturers are experiencing increased demand as AI, data centers, and electric vehicles drive growth.

DB HiTek reported 2025 revenue of 1.4 trillion won (US$954 million), with a 24% rise from the previous year.

The company cited higher demand for power management ICs (PMICs) linked to AI services as a factor in its improved earnings.

After two years of decline, DB HiTek’s revenue rebounded in 2025, with its fab utilization rate reaching 96%, up from 76% in 2024.

Major foundries like Samsung and TSMC are reducing 8-inch wafer production, focusing instead on advanced 12-inch chips.

Despite this, demand for 8-inch wafers persists, especially for high-voltage applications in EVs and data centers.

🧠 Food for thought

Implications, context, and why it matters.

Rising demand comes from AI and data centers, plus geopolitics linked to China’s push for semiconductor localization 1.
DB HiTek’s performance tracks China’s self-sufficiency effort, with China making up 64% of the company’s fourth-quarter revenue distribution 2.
Chinese foundries are running at full capacity, so overflow orders move to South Korean firms such as DB HiTek, TrendForce (a market research firm that tracks semiconductor supply and demand) said 1.
Limited supply gives some foundries room to raise prices, with TrendForce saying customers have been told to expect hikes of 5% to 20% 1.

TSMC and Samsung are cutting 8-inch output as they shift toward advanced 12-inch chips, and TrendForce estimates global 8-inch wafer production will drop about 2.4% year on year in 2026 1.
Electronics suppliers are placing PC and notebook orders earlier because of fears around higher integrated circuit (IC) costs and crowded capacity, TrendForce said 1.
Pressure on “legacy” 8-inch lines also pushes new work on mature tools and recipes.
DB HiTek is finishing a 650-volt enhancement-mode (E-mode) gallium nitride (GaN) high-electron-mobility transistor (HEMT) process, and it says the technology fits electric-vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure plus power conversion systems in hyperscale data centres (very large cloud and internet data centers) 3.