EpiGaN

Bernin (Grenoble), France, May 13, 2019 – Soitec (Euronext Paris), an industry leader in designing and manufacturing innovative semiconductor materials, announced today that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire EpiGaN, a leading European supplier of GaN epitaxial wafer (epi-wafer) materials. EpiGaN’s GaN products are used primarily within RF 5G, power electronics, and sensor applications, with the total addressable market of GaN technologies estimated to be between 500,000 to 1M wafers per year within five years.
Please read the full press release here. Find out more about Soitec.

About EpiGaN
The growing demand for high-speed, high-temperature and high power-handling capabilities has made the semiconductor industry rethink the choice of materials used as semiconductors. For instance, as various faster and smaller computing devices arise, the use of silicon is making it difficult to sustain Moore’s Law. But also in power electronics, the properties of silicon are no longer sufficient to allow further improvements in conversion efficiency.

Due to its unique characteristics (high maximum current, high breakdown voltage, and high switching frequency), Gallium Nitride (or GaN) is the unique material of choice to solve energy problems of the future. GaN based systems have higher power efficiency, thus reducing power losses, switch at higher frequency, thus reducing size and weight.