A motor driving circuit includes a three-phase inverter circuit 8, including three upper-arm switching elements 56a to 56c for driving upper arms of different phases of a three-phase motor 3, and three lower-arm switching elements 56d to 56f for driving lower arms of different phases. At least one of the upper-arm switching elements 56a to 56c and the lower-arm switching elements 56d to 56f is a semiconductor element that performs a diode operation. The diode operation is an operation in which a voltage less than or equal to a threshold voltage of a gate electrode G is applied to the gate electrode G with reference to a potential of a first ohmic electrode S, thereby conducting a current flow from the first ohmic electrode S to a second ohmic electrode D and blocking a current flow from the second ohmic electrode D to the first ohmic electrode S.