News: Microelectronics
2 November 2021
Navitas presents at 2021 Xiaomi Portfolio Demo Day
Gallium nitride (GaN) power integrated circuit firm Navitas Semiconductor of El Segundo, CA, USA and Dublin, Ireland highlighted next-generation power and fast-charging advances at the 2021 Xiaomi Portfolio Demo Day at the Xiaomi Tech Park, Beijing, on 24 October.
In second-quarter 2021, Xiaomi Corp became the world’s second-biggest smartphone maker (by shipments), and in March the firm announced a $10bn, 10-year investment into electric vehicles (EVs). As a partner of Xiaomi, Navitas was invited to the Demo Day to exhibit GaN power IC solutions and how they could be used in Xiaomi’s portfolio, including mobile fast chargers, home appliances, tools and EVs.
Founded in 2014, Navitas introduced what it claimed to be the first commercial GaN power integrated circuits. Its proprietary GaNFast power ICs monolithically integrate GaN power field-effect transistors (FETs) and GaN drive plus control and protection circuits in a single SMT package. Over 130 Navitas patents are issued or pending.
At the exhibition, Navitas’ display was visited by Xiaomi Group’s founder, chairman & CEO Jun Lei, partner & president Xiang Wang, partner & senior VP Feng Zhang, and VP & chief financial officer Shiwei Lin, together with Xiaomi Industrial Investment Department partner Changshu Sun, who discussed the latest GaNFast technology, saw existing GaNFast-powered Xiaomi mobile fast chargers (including the world's smallest 65W and new 55W for the latest Xiaomi Civi phone) and reviewed product and application roadmaps.
As of October, Navitas has shipped over 30 million GaNFast power ICs with zero reported GaN field failures, demonstrating their reliability in the mobile market, and paving the way for expansion into consumer, solar, energy storage, data center and EV applications.
At the exhibition, Navitas demonstrated a new 6.6kW on-board charger (OBC), with wide-range 240-420V output, in only 222mm x 168mm x 60mm and achieving a power density of 3kW/liter (up to 3x higher power density than legacy-silicon-based OBCs). GaN power ICs can hence charge 3x faster than silicon systems of identical size. The Navitas OBC roadmap continues to over 5kW/ liter.
Navitas estimates that an upgrade from silicon to GaN would accelerate EV adoption by three years, saving 20% of road-sector CO2 emissions annually by 2050.
At lower powers, Navitas also showcased fast chargers with power ranging from 20W to 300W, and a new data center power supply rated at 1300W and achieving ‘Titanium-class’ efficiency performance.
“As one of the important partners of Xiaomi, Navitas is also continuously developing and making progress in GaN power ICs,” notes Xiaomi’s president Xiang Wang. “Together, we have launched Xiaomi’s 55W GaN fast charge charger and 65W 1A1C GaN fast charger and other excellent products,” he adds.
“Navitas thanks Xiaomi not only for the honor of participating in this next-generation technology exhibition, but also for its long-term investment and partnership,” comments Charles (Yingjie) Zha, VP & general manager of Navitas China. “Xiaomi’s market vision and Navitas’ GaN power IC roadmap are perfectly aligned, from 55W smartphone chargers to multi-kW EV applications.”
Xiaomi launches third fast-charger based on Navitas’ GaNFast power ICs
