Partnering for Maximum Impact: An Interview with Ty McNutt, Director, Power Applications & Business Development, I&E, Wolfspeed

Ty McNutt joined the Wolfspeed Fayetteville location in 2010 and has over 25 years of experience in the semiconductor field across a broad range of semiconductor technologies, including bulk growth, SiC and GaN RF and power device design, power modules and system design. Prior to joining Wolfspeed, Ty held various technology development and business development roles for NIST and Northrop Grumman. He received his BS in Physics from Hendrix College and MSEE & PhD from the University of Arkansas.  

Powerful Perspectives: Can you talk a little bit about how you help to drive better partnerships in your role? 

McNutt: Sure. Wolfspeed’s revolutionary silicon carbide technology is enabling a new class of automotive and industrial applications. But creating a brand-new class of products using innovative technologies has its challenges. That’s why our team’s charter is to collaborate with our customers and partners as closely as possible. Often this includes the personal commitment to working onsite with them to grapple with real-world challenges and expedite them as quickly as possible. 

Without this real-time, in-person collaboration you can burn weeks or months scheduling calls, trying to understand the problem, gathering the right experts, prioritizing actions, and figuring out a solution. We can’t possibly get the results our customers need by going through the motions on conference calls every two weeks. And it’s amazing how much faster we can solve technical problems when we are sitting in the same room with a whiteboard.  

By combining our in-depth silicon carbide expertise with our partner’s system knowledge and ultimate vision, we can come up with novel solutions, which ultimately means faster design cycles and better products.   

Powerful Perspectives: A 2024 KPMG report notes that as much as executives expect technology to have a major impact on their operations, less than a third feel they are actually ready for change. How can companies make better use of technology partnerships in today’s environment?  

McNutt: The first thing I’d say is, achieving an effective partnership starts with developing a shared vision and the desire for mutual success. For the partnership to work, it must be about solving real world pain points, and these pain points must be relevant for both partners.  

To drive change, the goals of any collaboration must be well understood and articulated. Clear ownership and leadership are essential, for instance. So having a management structure that can maneuver and resolve these challenges is a must.  

Finally, the collaboration must be able to pivot and adapt to changing technical and business needs. It really comes down to execution, to making it real. What problem are we trying to solve and how will our companies come together to solve that problem? To me, that’s when you find out whether the partnership is for real. 

Powerful Perspectives: What should a company look for in a silicon carbide partner, and what is the impact of having a partner with 200mm capabilities?

McNutt: If you’re hoping to partner with a silicon carbide company, I would prioritize proven expertise, state-of-the-art capabilities and a willingness to push the boundaries of what’s possible to help customers achieve their goals. 

If I turn the lens on Wolfspeed, we have a nearly 40-year legacy of pioneering and continuing to the evolution of silicon carbide technology.  No other company comes close to this level of learning cycles and the resulting expertise.

In terms of capabilities, our vertically integrated 200mm manufacturing technology is setting a new standard for improving yields and lower costs for our partners. This is a big deal.

Announcing that you have a fab is one thing but really doing the work to figure out how to make it efficient, scalable and produce the highest-quality, 200 mm silicon carbide wafers is not trivial. There are hundreds of process steps, and each one must be well controlled to have a repeatable product. The amount of learning that goes into that is enormous. 

In terms of willingness, at Wolfspeed, we are on a never-ending journey to improve and push the boundaries of excellence to deliver high-quality and reliable products to our customers. We are continually striving to improve and innovate. Our fully-automated facilities exemplify this commitment to quality, ensuring precision and consistency in every product we create. 

We are taking advantage of these investments daily, as the only U.S.-based vertically integrated silicon carbide company. We use our rich history in design and production expertise of silicon carbide materials, discretes, die and modules to align with partners that reflect similar intimate know-how to pull the market forward. It's important to remember, we have focused only on silicon carbide products, allowing us to have an extensive library of technology and application-based know-how that puts us in a unique category that can greatly enable a partnership. 

Powerful Perspectives: Why is vertical integration across your manufacturing and product roadmap important?

McNutt: For a few reasons. First, it’s important to know the end system and application by having close communication with leaders in each market. Then, competitively speaking, the verticality enables the end product (and supporting hardware) to have complete optimization – a seamless integration of technologies from materials-to-die, die-to-module, and module-to-system. Understanding the end use of the product and reflecting it in the design is paramount, then the more often thought of aspects can really be taken advantage of in the market - control of supply chain and costs of making products in a vertically integrated structure.

Owning the entire silicon carbide production process is very important for us at Wolfspeed. We have deep knowledge in every step. That pays dividends as you move up from a wafer to a die to a module. The often overlooked aspect of verticality, is that you always know what’s going on and can communicate clearly the technological differentiation and future technology innovation paths. 

Recently we met with a partner to discuss how we would produce a type of module they may want in their next-generation product. But they also wanted to know more about our die technology – both current technology, as well as our roadmap for it. Understanding Wolfspeed's product roadmap allows customers to anticipate and align with our advancements, enabling them to grow and evolve their platforms in tandem with our innovative developments. This symbiotic relationship ensures that both Wolfspeed and our customers are always at the forefront of progress. 

It’s important to put yourself in your partner’s shoes at moments like this. They’re curious about the manufacturing process because they want to ensure that, even 10 or 15 years down the line, production remains consistent and every part is repeatable. 

Powerful Perspectives: Where might companies come up short if they make the wrong choice of a partner? What does that typically look like? 

McNutt: If you don’t have the right partner, leadership, or organization structure for the partnership, the aspirations you have for a powerful collaboration can easily take a back seat to other priorities. And if you don’t secure the resources and build momentum, joint projects slow down and eventually sputter.  

There will always be things that you’re not expecting as you start a project. We embrace unexpected challenges as opportunities to innovate, exceed expectations, and push boundaries. That’s why we’ve really dedicated resources to our partnerships. Having that dedication plus the organizational structure to support them is an essential part of what it takes for the partnership to work. 

Another thing I’d say is that it’s important that a collaboration grows in relevancy. And the way you do that is by taking on harder and more meaningful projects. 

Powerful Perspectives: Why is taking on harder and more meaningful projects important? 

McNutt: As pioneers of silicon carbide, Wolfspeed recognizes the vast potential to drive value across multiple industries, demonstrating the leadership and courage required to tackle these opportunities head-on. 

Let’s look at e-mobility as an example. The problems we’re encountering are brand new and so are the opportunities. When it comes to modeling and understanding the environment, we’re doing it for the first time and our customers often are as well. That’s meaningful but it’s often really hard, too. 

Going back to the comment on partnering with leaders in the market, look at the partnership between Wolfspeed, AVL and DEIF as an example. The collaboration between these partners played a pivotal role in transforming the maritime industry by enabling the adoption of silicon carbide to drive marine electrification, replacing traditional fuel-based power sources with an advanced, first-of-its-kind solution that significantly reduces carbon emissions and improves energy efficiency. 

Powerful Perspectives: What lessons from one successful partnership can be transferred to others? 

McNutt: This is not a simple answer because there are many factors that go into a successful partnership. I will highlight two factors, though.  

One is adaptability. The initial plan for the partnership is obviously important, but any good partnership is defined in such a way that it can adapt. The challenges today will not be the same in one or two years. Top priorities may drop to number three and something else may surface. You need the right structure and leadership to recognize and react while keeping the passion and mission.  

Execution is also key. I would argue that if we execute, we can always adapt and find a way. But if we can’t execute, all the thinking becomes wishful, and the plans become useless. I have been very proud of our team and our execution.  

Powerful Perspectives: Why are some companies hesitant about incorporating silicon carbide given its clear advantages?  

McNutt: There’s no question that the penalty for getting the timing wrong on a disruptive change can be very costly. Though we are seeing EVs emerging across the globe, this conversion has been very successful for some customers and quite painful for others.  

For companies with a long legacy of the internal combustion engine, the development process for an electrified drive train can be extremely challenging, and the additional conversion of manufacturing lines and inventing into new supply chains is a real and significant investment. It may mean training at every dealership and educating your customer base. In addition, companies must now worry about the availability and compatibility of charging stations. This type of transition is not trivial.  

So regardless of the technological advantages, there are many tactical considerations that create barriers. Yet these challenges are being solved every day, and the transition is taking place in some markets at a pace that will give them long-term advantage.  

Powerful Perspectives: How would you convince someone that this is the perfect time to get started and commit to silicon carbide?

McNutt: As more industries turn to electrification to meet rising demands, it's crucial for customers to adopt these advancements now to stay ahead of the curve and avoid falling behind. 

We’re already seeing new EV automotives taking substantial market share from internal-combustion-engine car makers. Tesla and BYD are two examples of these disruptive companies. 

We’re also seeing advances in charging technology, silicon carbide, software, supply chain cost, and in other areas. Silicon carbide is one of the key technological factors that is driving this transformation. 

And this is becoming a technological, cost, and market share race. We’ve seen this in other markets. Some late arrivals who are not committed to a disruptive change may never recover.