GaN startup QPT appoints Rupert Baines as CEO

News | January 15, 2024

By Peter Clarke

Quantum Power Transformation Ltd. (Cambridge, England) has appointed semiconductor industry veteran Rupert Baines as CEO with effect from April 1, 2024.

QPT, founded in 2019, is specializing in developing GaN-based motor drives and inverters. Baine has previously served as CEO of UltraSoC, sold to Siemens, and as CMO of Codasip.

Rob Gwynne, founder and CTO of QPT, said, “Rupert has been the lead adviser for QPT since January 2022 and his support has been invaluable. We are now at a very exciting stage: first protypes, customer traction and raising funding on Crowdcube. We are looking forward to having Rupert on board to accelerate our growth.”

Baines told eeNews Europe: “GaN is being applied to switch-mode power supplies and ‘wall-warts’ for computers. But QPT is a systems-level play to drive motors. We’re looking at industrial motors for IoT.” He added that up to 45 percent of world electricity is used in electric motors, which is increasing as we move to net zero, and yet many motors are wasteful of energy. “GaN is inherently efficient but what if we can also change switching frequency from kilohertz to many megahertz, the power savings achievable are enormous,” said Baines.

System-level play

“IGBTs [insulated-gate bipolar transistors] haven’t moved to silicon-carbide. We believe we can leapfrog SiC and go straight to GaN,” said Baines. “However, QPT will make up motor drive configurations using supplied die. “We are a system-level company buying from numerous suppliers,” he added.

The company will then use contract electronic manufacturers to manufacture modules and ship them to customers. Baines said the company is essentially a factory-less module supplier although the company does have the capability to manufacture prototypes and small volume runs.

“We are currently in negotiations with contract electronics manufacturers. It is not all in south-east Asia. There is a lot of this activity in the UK and Europe,” said Baines.

Underlining that point QPT has announced that it has won the ABB Power Density Startup Challenge 2023 for Motor Drive Products. QPT’s qGaN technology addresses the issues of RF and overheating so that GaN can now be driven at the very high speeds needed to deliver major power savings in motors and drives.

The company has raised about £1 million so far from ‘angels’. The company also has a Crowdcube crowdsourced funding round open. Baines said a Series A round of funding is being planned and is expected to complete sometime in 2024.