A drive circuit turns on an NPN transistor and a transistor in response to a turn-on command in a control signal to supply a positive current to a gate of a power transistor, and turns off the transistor after lapse of a certain time period to lower gate driving capability. The drive circuit turns on a PNP transistor and a transistor in response to a turn-off command in the control signal to supply a negative current to the gate of the power transistor, and turns off the transistor after lapse of a certain time period to lower gate driving capability.