Semiconductor today

Power semiconductor start-up Vertical Semiconductor of Cambridge, MA, USA — which was spun out of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 2024 — has signed a letter of intent with the US Department of Commerce’s CHIPS Research and Development Office (CRDO) to receive up to $73m in federal incentives under the CHIPS and Science Act...

STMicroelectronics of Geneva, Switzerland has extended its MasterGaN integrated transistor/driver family with new MasterGaN7 devices that contain 650V enhancement-mode gallium nitride (GaN) transistors with 6A maximum current rating. The new series helps designers to boost efficiency and power density in applications such as power adapters, chargers, industrial lighting equipment, and solar micro-inverters...

Semiconductor transistor materials and technology licensing company Atomera Inc of Los Gatos, CA, USA has entered into a joint development agreement (JDA) with epiwafer and substrate maker IQE plc of Cardiff, Wales, UK to bring high-performance, cost-effective RF gallium nitride GaN to market...

Gallium nitride (GaN) and silicon carbide (SiC) power semiconductor firm Navitas Semiconductor Corp of Torrance, CA, USA has announced an ultra-high-voltage (UHV) SiC power module family for advanced energy and grid infrastructure...

Infineon Technologies AG of Munich, Germany is advancing its collaboration with NVIDIA on 800V direct current (VDC) power architectures for AI data centers. Timed to coincide with NVIDIA’s GTC Berlin developer conference on 20–22 October, the announcement centers on the high-voltage intermediate bus converter (IBC), one of the most critical and demanding conversion stages in the power delivery chain of AI data centers...

Photonic integration firm Photon Bridge of Eindhoven, The Netherlands has raised €10m to tackle the emerging bottleneck in AI infrastructure: producing the millions of lasers that will be needed to connect increasingly large clusters of AI processors...

Guerrilla RF Inc (GRF) of Greensboro, NC, USA — which provides radio-frequency integrated circuits (RFICs) and monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMICs) for wireless applications — says that new nonlinear simulation models for its GRF0005 and GRF0012 gallium nitride (GaN) power transistors are now available in the Modelithics COMPLETE Library...

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 – has announced a new partnership with Darley Defense (a global provider of defense, fire and emergency services equipment) to expand access to Ascent’s thin-film PV products throughout defense, federal, space and public sector markets...

NUBURU Inc of Centennial, CO, USA (a dual-use defense & security integrated platform company) has received a public warning letter from NYSE Regulation on behalf of NYSE American LLC...

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 — says that its EPC2361 100V eGaN FETs have been used in a high-performance buck-boost converter reference design from Analog Devices Inc (ADI)...

Sivers Semiconductors AB of Kista, Sweden (which supplies RF beam-former ICs and lasers for AI data-center, SATCOM, defense and telecom applications) says that its strategic LiDAR customer has initiated production orders for its automotive and industrial sensing customers...

Marktech Optoelectronics Inc of Latham, NY, USA and its device manufacturing partner Optrans have expanded their portfolio of four-channel indium gallium arsenide (InGaAs) PIN photodiodes for optical systems requiring both infrared detection and positional information. Combining conventional 1.7µm-cut-off and extended 2.6µm-cut-off InGaAs technologies, the portfolio gives optical system designers more options for laser alignment, beam tracking, optical feedback, and analytical instrumentation...

Deposition equipment maker Aixtron SE of Herzogenrath, near Aachen, Germany says that its preliminary results for third-quarter 2026 show that order intake, operating result (EBIT) and EBIT margin significantly exceed current market expectations...

Visium of West Palm Beach, FL, USA has joined the Florida Semiconductor Institute (FSI) at the University of Florida as an Industry Affiliate, connecting the company with Florida’s growing network of semiconductor innovators, researchers, and industry leaders...

Visium of West Palm Beach, FL, USA has appointed veteran air quality executive Jason DiBona as CEO...

The First Five-Year Plan for Economic and Social Development of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (2026–2030) and the chief executive’s 2026 Policy Address have reaffirmed the role of the Hong Kong Microelectronics Research and Development Institute (MRDI) as one of Hong Kong’s five key R&D institutions, and supported the accelerated establishment of Hong Kong’s first national manufacturing innovation center, to be led and operated by MRDI...

TrendForce’s latest report ‘2027 Infrared Sensing and Optical Communication Market Trend’ shows that rapidly growing demand for data transmission in expanding data-center networks is increasing interest in vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL)-based near-packaged optics (NPO). This technology is favored for its low power usage, easier maintenance, and a mature supply chain. Major companies like Lumentum, Furukawa Electric, Coherent, Broadcom, ams OSRAM, and HiSilicon are investing heavily in R&D...

NUBURU Inc of Centennial, CO, USA (a dual-use defense & security integrated platform company) has completed its acquisition of a 70% controlling interest in Tekne S.p.A. through its subsidiary NUBURU Defense LLC. The notarial closing was executed in Italy, following the Italian Government’s Golden Power authorization granted on 5 August. Tekne’s historical shareholders retain the remaining 30%...

Keysight Technologies Inc of Santa Rosa, CA, USA (via its office in Winnersh, UK) has collaborated with the University of Glasgow, the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) in Teddington, UK, and Taiwan-headquartered MPI Corp to develop a new approach to broadband characterization of next-generation sub-terahertz (sub-THz) semiconductor devices. Together, the organizations demonstrated continuous on-wafer characterization of indium phosphide high-electron-mobility transistors (InP HEMTs) from near-DC to 250GHz in a single sweep, simplifying broadband measurements for advanced semiconductor research and design...

Power Integrations Inc of San Jose, CA, USA (which provides high-voltage integrated circuits for energy-efficient power conversion) and Ideal Power Inc (developer and provider of the B-TRAN bidirectional semiconductor power switch) are collaborating to deliver a solid-state circuit breaker (SSCB) solution providing fast, efficient, always-on protection that scales with the 800VDC transition in AI data centers...