Transphorm raises $15m from major customer for GaN develeopment
The $15 million investment from Japanese drive maker Yaskawa Electric comes after Yaskawa revealed its integrated Σ-7 F servo motor relies on Transphorm’s 650V devices. The money will be used for various areas of its GaN product development says Transphorm.
“We’ve seen the benefits of working with gallium nitride from the R&D phases through to the application development phases of our products, such as photovoltaic converters and the integrated Σ-7 F servo motor,” said Yukio Tsutsui, General Manager of Corporate R&D Centre from Yaskawa. “We look ahead to further developments from Transphorm and its cutting-edge technology.”
The integrated Σ-7 F products resulting from the companies’ co-development serves one of the core target markets that can benefit most from HV GaN: servo motors. The high voltage GaN technology is also suited to automotive systems, data centre and industrial power supplies, renewable energy and other industrial applications. The Transphorm parts are made in a Japanese fab that recently moved from Fujitsu to On Semiconductor.
“Transphorm has consistently prioritized the quality and reliability of our GaN platform,” said Dr. Umesh Mishra, Chairman, CTO and co-founder of Transphorm. “That focus leads to strong customer relationships with visionaries such as Yaskawa and companies that not only innovate, but also influence market growth by demonstrating GaN’s real-world impact. Receiving Yaskawa’s recent support illustrates the rising confidence in GaN while underscoring its reliability.”
Other GaN startups such as GaN Systems, EPC and eGaN are also developing wide band gap transistors at different voltages for a range of power applications and looking to compete with established vendors such as Texas Instruments and Microsemi entering the market.
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