News: Microelectronics
24 May 2022
GaN Systems’ growth and design win momentum fuel 3x North America expansion
GaN Systems Inc of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada (a fabless developer of gallium nitride-based power switching semiconductors for power conversion and control applications) has highlighted the growth of its North America presence with a 3x increase in its Ottawa headquarters operation, the opening of a design center in Dallas, Texas, and a growing footprint across the USA and Europe. This expansion comes after a recent increase in the Asia Pacific and is driven by the firm’s continued growth in revenue and design momentum, particularly with industry leaders across its target markets. The firm says that the expansion enables it to serve more customers and supports more designs across all target markets around the globe.
GaN Systems’ Ottawa headquarters and engineering hub have grown by 3x and are expected to reach 200 employees in the coming year. With the recent opening of a new design center in Dallas, Texas, the firm’s overall headcount doubled in 2021 across Asia, Europe and North America, and is on target to double again in 2022.
The milestones follow three years of exponential growth, 3x expansion of its Taiwan office, and a $150m round of growth capital funding led by Fidelity Management & Research LLC with participation from strategic investors such as USI, Vitesco Technologies, and BMW. GaN Systems says that these achievements showcase the momentum behind gallium nitride and the growth profile expected to continue for years to come.
“We are the first to ramp GaN into electric vehicle (EV) production and currently support production programs across our target markets – consumer, enterprise, automotive, and industrial,” says CEO Jim Witham. “Our exponential growth and technology leadership have driven the need to add more talented technology veterans across all disciplines to keep pace with our design-win momentum,” he adds. “Our expansion in the Americas and Asia reflects our commitment to servicing our growing customer base worldwide and supporting innovation across our key industries.”
GaN Systems has added technology veterans across all key disciplines, including engineering, sales and marketing. The firm is strengthening its in-house capabilities with system-level expert engineering, and design teams focused on power conversion from 30W to 150kW in packages ranging from discrete chips to high-power modules, application expertise in consumer chargers, data-center power supplier units (PSUs), and automotive powertrains.
GaN Systems says it is widening its reach worldwide as customers in automotive, consumer electronics, data centers, and industrial and renewable industries seek ways to improve or create more sustainable and energy-efficient power systems that use fewer materials. GaN is vital in creating these products, the firm reckons, delivering greater energy conversion efficiency and power density than legacy silicon-based power systems.
The GaN power market doubled in 2020 and will surpass $1bn in 2026, highlighting the growth of smartphone fast chargers and leading the way for telecom and automotive markets, according to market analyst firm Yole Développement’s report ‘GaN Power 2021: Epitaxy, Devices, Applications and Technology Trends’.
GaN Systems expands Taiwan-based Asia operation by 3x
