The two companies signed a definitive agreement under which Infineon will acquire GaN Systems for US$830 million. GaN Systems is based in Ottawa, Canada and specialises in the development of GaN-based solutions for power conversion.

Infineon’s CEO, Jochen Hanebeck, said the acquisition will accelerate the company’s GaN roadmap and will strengthen the company’s position in the power systems market.

“GaN technology is paving the way for more energy-efficient and CO2-saving solutions that support decarbonisation,” he said. “Adoption in applications like mobile charging, data centre power supplies, residential solar inverters, and onboard chargers for electric vehicles is at the tipping point, leading to a dynamic market growth”.  

Jim Witham, CEO of GaN Systems (pictured), said: “The GaN Systems team is excited about teaming up with Infineon to create highly differentiating customer offerings, based on bringing together complementary strengths. . . . we will optimally leverage the potential of GaN.

GaN Systems’ foundry partnerships and Infineon’s in-house manufacturing capacity will enable maximum growth capability, said Witham. “I am very proud of what GaN Systems has accomplished so far and cannot wait to help write the next chapter together with Infineon,” he says. “As an integrated device manufacturer with a broad technology capability, Infineon enables us to unleash our full potential.”

GaN offers customers value by higher power density, higher efficiency, and size reductions, especially at higher switching frequencies. These properties enable energy savings and smaller form factors.

Market analysts expect GaN revenue for power applications to grow by 56% CAGR by 2027, to approximately US$2bn (source: Yole, Compound Semiconductor Market Monitor-Module I Q4 2022) for a wide range of applications.

GaN is one of the key materials for power semiconductors, together with silicon and SiC (silicon carbide). Last year, Infineon invested more than €2bn in a front end fab in Kulim, Malaysia which will operate in addition to Infineon’s existing wide bandgap manufacturing capabilities in Villach, Austria.