Vertical Semiconductor, a spinout from MIT, secured $11 million in seed funding to commercialize vertical gallium nitride (GaN) transistors aimed at solving one of AI infrastructure’s most pressing challenges: efficient power delivery. Playground Global led the round, joined by JIMCO Technology Ventures, milemark•capital, and Shin-etsu.
The company’s vertical GaN devices bring energy conversion closer to the chip, cutting power loss, heat, and infrastructure complexity. Vertical claims its approach can improve efficiency by up to 30% and reduce the footprint of data center power systems by half. The technology is designed for devices ranging from 100 volts to 1.2kV and has already been demonstrated on 8-inch wafers using standard CMOS processes, enabling seamless integration into semiconductor manufacturing lines.
Founded on research at MIT’s Palacios Group, Vertical is developing packaged prototypes for sampling by year-end and plans a fully integrated solution in 2026. The technology targets hyperscale data centers where escalating AI workloads are straining power capacity and energy budgets.
- $11 million seed round led by Playground Global with JIMCO, milemark•capital, and Shin-etsu participating
- Vertical GaN transistors aim to boost efficiency up to 30% and cut rack-level power footprints by 50%
- Technology developed on 8-inch wafers with CMOS compatibility for scalable manufacturing
- First prototype sampling expected late 2025; fully integrated solution planned for 2026
- Research origins in MIT’s Palacios Group, a leading GaN lab
“The most significant bottleneck in AI hardware is how fast we can deliver power to the silicon,” said Cynthia Liao, CEO and co-founder of Vertical Semiconductor. “We’re not just improving efficiency, we’re enabling the next wave of innovation by rewriting how electricity is delivered in data centers at scale.”
🌐 Analysis: The use of vertical GaN in power electronics represents a key inflection point for AI infrastructure, where rising demand has exposed limits in conventional silicon-based conversion. MIT spinouts have historically played pivotal roles in semiconductor innovation, and Vertical follows that tradition with a focus on manufacturable, high-voltage GaN. Competitors like Transphorm, Navitas, and EPC are also advancing GaN for data centers, but Vertical’s vertical architecture and CMOS compatibility could offer a critical scaling advantage.
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