Semiconductor today

Power semiconductor technology firm ROHM says that it is one of the key silicon providers supporting NVIDIA’s new 800V High-Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) architecture. This marks a pivotal shift in data-center design, enabling megawatt-scale AI factories that are more efficient, scalable, and sustainable...

Tokyo-based Mitsubishi Electric Corporation says it has developed a compact 7GHz band gallium nitride (GaN) power amplifier module (PAM) with record-breaking power efficiency of 41%. The performance was verified in a demonstration using 5G-Advanced communication signals...

Global smartphone production reached 289 million units in Q1 2025, says market research firm TrendForce. Compared to Q1 2024, the figures represent a 3% decline. However, in China, sales in Q1 were boosted by an ongoing consumer subsidy program...

Imec of Leuven, Belgium has unveiled a gallium nitride (GaN) MOSHEMT (metal-oxide-semiconductor high-electron-mobility transistor) on silicon (Si) that achieves both record efficiency and output power for an enhancement-mode (E-mode) device operating at low supply voltage. In parallel, the firm also demonstrated a record-low contact resistance of 0.024Ω·mm, which is essential to further boost output power in future designs. Imec says that the results mark a crucial step toward integrating GaN technology into next-gen mobile devices, particularly those targeting the 6G FR3 band between 7 and 24GHz. The results are being presented at the 2025 Symposium on VLSI Technology and Circuits in Kyoto, Japan, June 8-12...

Gallox Semiconductors, a startup with roots in Cornell University, has won the 2025 Hello Tomorrow Global Challenge in the Advanced Computing & Electronics category...

SweGaN AB of Linköping, Sweden, a developer and manufacturer of custom gallium nitride on silicon carbide (GaN-on-SiC) epitaxial wafers, based on proprietary growth technology, has announced several key board appointments supporting its growth in telecom, satcom, defense, and power electronics....

BluGlass Ltd of Silverwater, Australia — which develops and manufactures gallium nitride (GaN) blue laser diodes based on its proprietary low-temperature, low-hydrogen remote-plasma chemical vapor deposition (RPCVD) technology — has extended the closing date for its share purchase plan (SPP) offer (which opened on 8 May) from 10 June to 17 June...

MACOM Technology Solutions Inc of Lowell, MA, USA has announced the availability of a wideband front-end module (FEM) covering 2–18GHz. Suitable for electronic countermeasures (ECM) and phased-array radar applications, the miniature multi-chip ENGSD00088 transmit/receive module integrates a high-power 3-stage gallium nitride (GaN) power amplifier (PA), a 3-stage gallium arsenide (GaAs) low-noise amplifier (LNA) and a transmit/receive (T/R) switch with a fail-safe antenna termination, all within a compact package...

Efficient Power Conversion Corp (EPC) of El Segundo, CA, USA — which makes enhancement-mode gallium nitride on silicon (eGaN) power field-effect transistors (FETs) and integrated circuits for power management applications — has released the EPC9196, a high-performance 25ARMS, 3-phase brushless DC (BLDC) motor drive inverter reference design powered by the EPC2304 eGaN FET. The EPC9196 is specifically designed for medium-voltage (96V–150V) battery-powered motor drive applications, including steering systems in automated guided vehicles (AGVs), traction motors in compact autonomous vehicles, and precision motor joints in robotics...

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Dowa Electronic Materials Co Ltd of Tokyo, Japan (a subsidiary of Dowa Holdings Co Ltd) has launched a surface-mountable device (SMD) in the peak wavelength range of 1040–1900nm made with its high-efficiency SWIR (short-wavelength infrared) LEDs. DOWA aims to expand business in the rapidly growing machine vision and healthcare markets...

Nanoelectronics research center imec of Leuven, Belgium and two imec research groups at Ghent University (the Photonics Research Group and IDlab) have demonstrated a fully integrated single-chip microwave photonics system, combining optical and microwave signal processing on a single silicon chip (Hong Deng et al, ‘Single-chip silicon photonic engine for analog optical and microwave signals processing’ Nature Communications volume 16, Article number 5087 (2025)). The chip integrates high-speed modulators, optical filters, photodetectors and transfer-printed lasers, making it a compact, self-contained and programmable solution for high-frequency signal processing. This can replace bulky and power-hungry components, enabling faster wireless networks, low-cost microwave sensing, and scalable deployment in applications like 5G/6G, satellite communications, and radar systems...

BluGlass Ltd of Silverwater, Australia — which develops and manufactures gallium nitride (GaN) blue laser diodes based on its proprietary low-temperature, low-hydrogen remote-plasma chemical vapor deposition (RPCVD) technology — is now an approved supplier and has received its first order from the Indian Ministry of Defence’s Solid State Physics Laboratory (SSPL), valued at $230,000. The order is for development services for benchmarking the fabrication process of GaN-based laser diodes...

According to a report by Nikkei, Renesas Electronics Corp of Tokyo, Japan is abandoning its plans to produce silicon carbide (SiC) power semiconductors for electric vehicles (EVs), due to slowing growth in the EV market — coupled with a supply glut driven by increased production from Chinese manufacturers — that has led to falling prices...

Swansea University has signed a deal that makes Space Forge Ltd of Cardiff, South Wales, UK (which is pioneering space-based advanced materials manufacturing via fully returnable satellites) the first firm to be physically hosted in the Centre for Integrative Semiconductor Materials (CISM), where it will undertake work on manufacturing in micro-gravity. Space Forge will be CISM’s first incubation client with a dedicated cleanroom incubation bay and access to a full suite of semiconductor processing and characterization tools...

WIN Semiconductors Corp of Taoyuan City, Taiwan — which provides pure-play gallium arsenide (GaAs) and gallium nitride (GaN) wafer foundry services for the wireless, infrastructure and networking markets — has launched its NP12-1B, a 0.12μm gate-length depletion-mode (D-mode) GaN high-electron-mobility transistor (HEMT) technology on silicon carbide (SiC) substrates...

Resonantly tunable quantum cascade lasers (QCLs) are high-performance laser light sources for a wide range of spectroscopy applications in the mid-infrared (MIR) range. Their high brilliance enables minimal measurement times for more precise and efficient characterization processes and can be used, for example, in chemical and pharmaceutical industries, medicine or security technology. Until now, however, the production of QCL modules has been relatively complex and expensive...

Indium Corp of Clinton, NY, USA (a supplier of refined gallium, germanium, indium and other specialty technology metals) has joined Virginia Tech’s Center for Power Electronics Systems (CPES), an industry consortium that supports power electronics initiatives to reduce energy use while growing capability...

Gallium nitride (GaN) power IC and silicon carbide (SiC) technology firm Navitas Semiconductor Corp of Torrance, CA, USA has partnered with BrightLoop Converters of Paris, France (which develops and manufactures high-efficiency, high-reliability power converters) to support their latest series of hydrogen fuel-cell chargers with automotive-qualified Gen 3 ‘Fast’ SiC (G3F) MOSFETs for heavy-duty agricultural transportation equipment...

SuperLight Photonics of Enschede, the Netherlands — a spin-off from the University of Twente that is developing a photonic integrated circuit (PIC) wideband laser light source for measurement and detection applications — has announced a partnership with ProCareLight, a a spin-off of Instituto de Ciencias Fotónicas (ICFO) that specializes in photonics, lasers and laser safety in Spain and Portugal...