Semiconductor today

UK-based Space Forge Ltd, which is pioneering space-based advanced materials manufacturing and return technology, has completed its £22.6m (about $30m) Series A funding round (the largest Series A in UK space tech history)...

Gallium nitride (GaN) power IC and silicon carbide (SiC) technology firm Navitas Semiconductor Corp of Torrance, CA, USA has appointed Cristiano Amoruso to its board of directors...

Vacuum solution provider Busch Group of Maulburg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany says that its brand centrotherm clean solutions of Blaubeuren, Baden-Württemberg will become part of Busch Group company Pfeiffer Vacuum+Fab Solutions of Aßlar, Germany. Effective September, the gas abatement systems previously offered under the centrotherm brand will be integrated into the Pfeiffer portfolio and be available under this name in the future, uniting the two members of the global Busch Group...

Finwave Semiconductor Inc of Waltham, MA, USA has announced a new $8.2m bridge investment round, led by Fine Structure Ventures, Engine Ventures, and Safar Partners, with strategic participation from technology partner GlobalFoundries. Finwave reckons that the new funding signals strong conviction from investors and industry leaders in the market potential of its unique GaN-on-Si technology as it transitions from a technology-centric innovator to a product-driven company...

At SID Display Week 2025 (13–15 May), fabless micro-LED company Porotech (a spin off from the Cambridge Centre for Gallium Nitride at the UK’s University of Cambridge that has developed porous GaN material and has an R&D center in Hsinchu, Taiwan) is leading the ‘One-Stop AR Solution Alliance’ alongside key partners Foxconn, Rayprus, GIS, and Jorjin with a grand showcase in booth 1208 at the San Jose McEnery Convention Center...

As it celebrates its fifth birthday, III–V Epi Ltd of Glasgow, Scotland, UK — which provides a molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) and metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) service for custom compound semiconductor wafer design, manufacturing, test and characterization — says that it has demonstrated consistent growth, establishing its reputation as a trusted supplier of III-V epitaxial structures through MBE and MOCVD...

Midsummer AB of Järfälla, near Stockholm, Sweden – a developer and manufacturer of flexible, lightweight copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS) thin-film solar cells and roofs for building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) as well as equipment for their production – has received an order worth SEK143.5m (€13.1m; US$14.8m) from a Swedish industrial and defense group for a turnkey production line for the manufacturing of thin-film solar cells...

Luminus Devices Inc of Sunnyvale, CA, USA — which designs and makes LEDs and solid-state technology (SST) light sources for illumination markets — has launched the CFT-50X Series, an extensive product line of high-performance LEDs designed specifically for medical, life sciences, and industrial applications. Available now through authorized distributors, the new series offers versatility, with 10 distinct SKUs spanning from UVA (405nm) to Red (638nm), meeting the demanding requirements of medical endoscopy, biophotonic, fluorescence microscopy and machine vision markets...

Molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) system maker Riber S.A. of Bezons, France has received an order for a research MBE 412 cluster platform with an automatic wafer transfer system from a leading Australian research laboratory in order to advance its research in infrared (IR) technologies and to support the development of sovereign IR sensor capabilities in Australia...

NUBURU Inc of Centennial, CO, USA — which was founded in 2015 and develops and manufactures high-power industrial blue lasers — has filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) a Form S-3 Registration statement for $100m. This strategic move is designed to provide the firm with the necessary capital to facilitate the ongoing acquisition plan and relaunch its Blue Laser technology business unit...

Infineon Technologies AG of Munich, Germany is introducing the CoolGaN bidirectional switch (BDS) 650V G5, a gallium nitride (GaN) switch capable of actively blocking voltage and current in both directions. Featuring a common-drain design and a double-gate structure, it leverages Infineon's robust gate injection transistor (GIT) technology to deliver a monolithic bidirectional switch, enabled by Infineon’s CoolGaN technology. The device serves as a highly efficient replacement for traditional back-to-back configurations commonly used in converters...

Weakening demand in the automotive and industrial sectors slowed shipment growth for silicon carbide (SiC) substrates in 2024, notes market research firm TrendForce. At the same time, intensifying market competition and sharp price declines have pushed global revenue for N-type SiC substrates down 9% year-on-year to US$1.04bn...

In booth 1447 at SID Display Week 2025 in San Jose, CA, USA (11–16 May), micro-LED technology firm VueReal Inc of Waterloo, ON, Canada is unveiling its latest micro-LED advances, highlighting scalable solutions for next-generation lighting, displays and transparent electronics across automotive, consumer and emerging tech applications...

Wolfspeed Inc of Durham, NC, USA — which makes silicon carbide (SiC) materials and power semiconductor devices — has appointed Paul Walsh and Mark Jensen to its board of directors. Both will serve as members of the Audit Committee...

Sweden-based AlixLabs AB (which was spun off from Lund University in 2019) says that the US Patent and Trademark Office has issued the notice of allowance for its latest patent application, US20250087487A1 ‘Formation of an array of nanostructures’...

South Korea-based LED maker Seoul Semiconductor Co Ltd says that it has narrowed the market share gap with global number-2 player ams OSRAM to just one percentage point, according to the ‘2024 Global LED Market Share Rankings’ issued by market research firm Omdia. Seoul Semiconductor was the only company among the global top three to sustain both revenue and market share, while industry leaders Nichia and ams OSRAM experienced significant revenue declines amid the slowdown in the LED market...

Uviquity of Raleigh, NC, USA (a venture-backed start-up pioneering wide-bandgap integrated photonic disinfection technologies) has emerged from stealth after a $6.6m seed-funding round led by Emerald Development Managers (an early-stage venture capital firm specializing in deep tech) with participation from AgFunder and MANN+HUMMEL (specialists in food and agriculture venture capital and advanced filtration solutions, respectively)...

Infineon Technologies AG of Munich, Germany and automotive cockpit electronics supplier Visteon Corp of Van Buren Township, MI, USA have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to advance the development of next-generation electric vehicle powertrains...

The Singapore–MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART, Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s research enterprise in Singapore) has launched a new interdisciplinary research group (IRG) focused on developing next-generation 3D sensing technologies for practical use across industries such as automotive, consumer electronics, aerospace and healthcare, among others...

Skyworks Solutions Inc of Irvine, CA, USA (which manufactures analog and mixed-signal semiconductors) has appointed Mark Dentinger as senior VP & chief financial officer, effective 2 June. He succeeds Kris Sennesael, who steps down as CFO on 9 May to pursue another opportunity...