Renesas Electronics has acquired Transphorm (Nasdaq: TGAN), a supplier of gallium nitride (GaN) power semiconductors. With this acquisition, Renesas will immediately begin offering GaN-based power products and related reference designs to meet the rising demand for wide bandgap (WBG) semiconductor products.
WBG materials such as GaN and silicon carbide (SiC) are considered key technologies for next-generation power semiconductors due to their superior power efficiency, higher switching frequencies, and smaller footprints compared to conventional silicon-based devices. Both GaN and SiC-based products are expected to grow rapidly over the next decade, driven by demand from electric vehicles (EVs), inverters, data center servers, artificial intelligence (AI), renewable energy, industrial power conversion, consumer applications, and more.
Renesas stated that investing in its power business is part of its long-term strategy for achieving sustainable growth. Other recent initiatives by Renesas to bolster this market segment include the opening of the Kofu Factory, a dedicated 300-mm wafer fab for power products; ramping up a new SiC production line at the Takasaki Factory; and forging an agreement with Wolfspeed to secure a steady supply of SiC wafers over the next 10 years. With GaN technology now part of Renesas’ portfolio, the company is poised to offer more comprehensive power solutions to support the evolving needs of customers across a broad range of applications.
On the same day it completed the acquisition of Transphorm, Renesas rolled out 15 new Winning Combinations, market-ready reference designs that combine the new GaN products with Renesas’ embedded processing, power, connectivity, and analog portfolios. These include designs integrating Transphorm’s automotive-grade GaN technology for on-board battery chargers and 3-in-1 powertrain solutions for EVs.
- Founded in 2007 in Goleta, California, Transphorm has roots from the University of California at Santa Barbara and the Wide Bandgap industry.
