Semiconductor today

HexSeed Technology Ltd of Banchory, near Aberdeen, Scotland, UK has raised more than £600,000 in an early-stage funding round led by Carbon13, with participation from Net Zero Technology Centre and Vento Ventures. The cumulative investment unlocks a Partnership Grant from overnment agency Innovate UK (part of UK Research and Innovation), awarded on a provisional basis earlier this year...

Clas-SiC Wafer Fab Ltd of Lochgelly, Fife, Scotland — which was founded in 2017 and is the UK’s only commercial wafer fabrication facility dedicated to silicon carbide (SiC) — is one of the first recipients of Scottish Enterprise’s new Capital Grant, which has been designed to help drive levels of business investment and productivity. As part of a £12m company investment, the £1.9m government grant will support the growth of Scotland’s Critical Technologies supercluster...

EPC Space LLC of Andover, MA, USA (which manufactures high-reliability radiation-hardened enhancement-mode gallium nitride-on-silicon discrete transistors, ICs and modular devices for power management in space and other harsh environments) has announced three new eGaN power transistors in plastic surface-mount packages, designed to deliver high-performance power conversion for next-generation space computing systems...

For its fiscal full-year 2026 (ended 27 June), Lumentum Holdings Inc of San Jose, CA, USA (which designs and makes optical and photonic products for optical networks and lasers for industrial and consumer markets) has reported revenue of $3014m, up 83.2% on fiscal 2025’s $1645m...

Ascent Solar Technologies Inc of Thornton, CO, USA – which designs and makes lightweight, flexible copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS) thin-film photovoltaic (PV) panels that can be integrated into consumer products, off-grid applications and aerospace applications – plans to expand testing of its CIGS PV technology beyond low Earth orbit (LEO) as the firm has received an increase in requests for solar solutions capable of supporting missions across multiple orbital environments. Ascent is preparing a series of in-house characterization campaigns designed to validate the survivability and performance of its thin-film solar technology in increasingly challenging space conditions, concluding in fourth-quarter 2026...

Materials, networking and laser technology firm Coherent Corp of Saxonburg, PA, USA has begun sampling its 300mm high-thermal-conductivity silicon carbide (SiC) substrates to leading AI semiconductor partners, advancing its scalable materials platform for the growing thermal management requirements of artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing (HPC) systems...

NoMIS Power Corp of Albany, NY, USA — which was spun off from State University of New York Polytechnic Institute (SUNY Poly) in 2020, and develops silicon carbide (SiC) technologies for medium- and high-voltage power conversion — has demonstrated its first 6.5kV large-die SiC MOSFET. The device was measured at over 8kV blocking, 90mΩ on-resistance, and 55A drain current. The result extends NoMIS Power’s proven planar SiC device technology from its established 3.3kV devices into the high-voltage class, and establishes a clear, demonstrated path toward the company’s forthcoming 10kV MOSFETs and 20kV SiC IGBTs...

Space Forge Inc (which, as a branch of Space Forge Ltd of Cardiff, Wales, UK, operates from Florida’s Space Coast, using space as a unique laboratory environment to manufacture semiconductor materials that cannot be made on Earth) has signed a master research agreement with The Texas A&M University System, which sets the framework for a research collaboration and marks a first step towards Space Forge establishing its initial semiconductor materials manufacturing and processing capability in the USA...

Space Forge Inc (which, as a branch of Space Forge Ltd of Cardiff, Wales, UK, operates from Florida’s Space Coast, using space as a unique laboratory environment to manufacture semiconductor materials that cannot be made on Earth) has signed a master research agreement with The Texas A&M University System, which sets the framework for a research collaboration and marks a first step towards Space Forge establishing its initial semiconductor materials manufacturing and processing capability in the USA...

SweGaN AB of Linköping, Sweden — which designs, develops and manufactures custom gallium nitride on silicon carbide (GaN-on-SiC) epitaxial wafers, based on proprietary growth technology — has closed a US$14m Series B round of financing led by Swedish investor Thisbe AB (part of the Wallenberg Investments ecosystem), Copenhagen-based venture capital firm North Ventures and existing shareholders. This brings total funding to US$41m...

SweGaN AB of Linköping, Sweden — which designs, develops and manufactures custom gallium nitride on silicon carbide (GaN-on-SiC) epitaxial wafers, based on proprietary growth technology — has closed a US$14m Series B round of financing led by Swedish investor Thisbe AB (part of the Wallenberg Investments ecosystem), Copenhagen-based venture capital firm North Ventures and existing shareholders. This brings total funding to US$41m...

Following a “reality check” in 2024–2025, when sales of hybrid electric vehicles gained ground and battery-electric vehicles growth slowed temporarily, the xEV industry is regaining momentum, notes Yole Group in its report ‘Automotive Powertrain and Electrification 2026 – Focus on Power Electronics’. The market research firm estimates that xEV production is growing at a double-digit compound annual growth rate (CAGR) during 2025–2031 to about 70% of global light vehicle production, with battery-electric vehicles (BEVs) alone accounting for 33 million units. In turn, the xEV power device market is growing at a 14% CAGR to $14.5bn by 2031...

Sivers Semiconductors AB of Kista, Sweden (which supplies RF beam-former ICs and lasers for AI data-center, SATCOM, defense and telecom applications) and SemiNex Corp of Danvers, MA, USA – which designs and makes indium phosphide (InP) lasers diodes, DFB lasers, semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOAs) and external-cavity lasers – have announced a program for next-generation InP light sources for AI data-center interconnects...

BAE Systems Inc says that its FAST Labs research, development and production organization of Nashua, NH, USA has completed Phase 1 of the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s (DARPA) program Technologies for Heat Removal in Electronics at the Device Scale (THREADS) and has been awarded continued support to move into Phase 2...

For second-quarter 2026, epitaxial deposition and process equipment maker Veeco Instruments Inc of Plainview, NY, USA has reported revenue of $193.5m, up 22% on $158.3m last quarter and 16.5% on $166.1m a year ago, and exceeding the $170–190m guidance...

Photonic application-specific integrated circuit (PASIC) chip designer and manufacturer OpenLight of Goleta, Santa Barbara, CA, USA (which launched as an independent company in 2022, introducing the first open silicon photonics platform with heterogeneously integrated III-V lasers, modulators, amplifiers and detectors) and specialty analog foundry Tower Semiconductor Ltd of Migdal Haemek, Israel have announced the availability of OpenLight’s photonic process design kit (PDK) for Tower’s PH18DA indium phosphide (InP)-on-silicon photonics platform in Cadence’s electronic design automation (EDA) tools...

Soctera of Ithaca, NY USA has closed a $4m in seed funding round backed by Anorak Ventures and Multiball Capital, with additional participation from 9Yards Capital, Mana Ventures, and Red Bear Ventures. The firm will use the funding to develop its thermally optimized III-nitride millimeter-wave power amplifiers...

The South Wales-based compound semiconductor cluster CSconnected Ltd has announced the successful applicants to the fourth and final funding call of its £1m Supply Chain Development Programme, delivered in partnership with Cardiff Capital Region (CCR). The program provides grants of up to £100,000 to help strengthen the compound semiconductor supply chain in South Wales by supporting capability and capacity development, increasing productivity, competitiveness and creating new commercial opportunities...

Gallium nitride (GaN) power IC and silicon carbide (SiC) technology firm Navitas Semiconductor Corp of Torrance, CA, USA has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Renesas Electronics Corp of Tokyo, Japan in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas...

The UK Semiconductor Centre (UKSC) will lead a delegation of UK semiconductor companies and organizations to SEMICON Taiwan 2026 at TaiNEX in Taipei (2–4 September), reinforcing its role as the gateway to the UK semiconductor ecosystem and strengthening strategic partnerships between the UK and Taiwan...