News: Microelectronics
15 December 2020
Transphorm expands multi-year development agreement with Yaskawa
Transphorm Inc of Goleta, near Santa Barbara, CA, USA — which designs and manufactures JEDEC- and AEC-Q101-qualified 650V and 900V gallium nitride (GaN) field-effect transistors (FETs) for high-voltage power conversion applications — has entered into an expanded, multi-year cooperation and development agreement with its long-term strategic partner Yaskawa Electric Corp of Kitakyushu, Japan, a manufacturer of low- and medium-voltage variable frequency drives, servo motors, machine controllers and industrial robots.
As part of the agreement, Yaskawa will make investments in Transphorm totaling $4m, with the first tranche of $1m to be provided by mid-December. The agreement is an expansion of the next phase of cooperation initiated in 2017 with Yaskawa’s investment of $15m in Transphorm.
Yaskawa intends to use Transphorm’s GaN power device products for industrial power conversion applications, commencing with servo motor and variable frequency drive applications. Power device development activity by Transphorm under this agreement should benefit Yaskawa by enhancing its next generation of products for these applications.
“Transphorm greatly values its long-term relationship with Yaskawa as it has helped to advance the development of Transphorm’s GaN FET platforms, resulting in high-performance power devices for industrial and motor control applications as well as other focused markets,” says co-founder & chief technology officer Umesh Mishra. “The device development under this contract will further enhance the specifications of Transphorm’s products, while maintaining our best-in-class quality and reliability,” he adds. “These enhanced product features will make our new GaN products appealing for servo drives for robotics and motion control as well as a broader range of industrial and white-goods applications.”
Transphorm receives $15m investment from servo motor firm Yaskawa
Transphorm partner Yaskawa Electric’s new servo motor first to use GaN
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