Semiconductor today

Aeluma Inc of Goleta, CA, USA has signed a letter of intent (LOI) for up to $30m of proposed funding under the CHIPS and Science Act, which is administered by the US Department of Commerce. The award will support R&D on the firm’s scalable, non-InP (indium phosphide) semiconductor manufacturing platform for photonics...

AXT Inc of Fremont, CA, USA — which makes gallium arsenide (GaAs), indium phosphide (InP) and germanium (Ge) substrates and raw materials at plants in China — has entered into a definitive agreement with Lumentum Operations LLC of San Jose, CA, USA (which designs and makes photonic products for optical networks and lasers for industrial and consumer markets) for the supply and capacity reservation of indium phosphide wafer substrates...

Multi-national industrial and energy company METLEN Energy & Metals S.A. of Athens, Greece — which operates the only vertically integrated bauxite, alumina and primary aluminium production unit in the European Union (EU) with privately owned port facilities — has announced a long-term commercial agreement for the supply of about 25% of the annual gallium production from its planned production facility in Greece...

Wolfspeed Inc of Durham, NC, USA — which makes silicon carbide (SiC) materials and power semiconductor devices — has appointed Andy W. Mattes to its board of directors...

Skyworks Solutions Inc of Irvine, CA, USA and Qorvo Inc of Greensboro, NC, USA have announced the expected executive leadership team for the combined company, effective upon completion of the pending transaction...

For second-quarter 2026, gallium nitride (GaN) power IC and silicon carbide (SiC) technology firm Navitas Semiconductor Corp of Torrance, CA, USA has reported revenue of $10.5m, down on $14.5m a year ago but up 22% on $8.6m last quarter, and at the upper end of the $9.5–10.5m guidance range...

For fiscal fourth-quarter 2026 (ended 29 May), Aehr Test Systems of Fremont, CA, USA — which provides solutions for testing, burning-in and stabilizing semiconductor devices in wafer-level, singulated die, and packaged-part form — has reported greater-than-expected revenue of $18.8m, up 83% on $10.3m last quarter and 33% on $14.1m a year ago. Despite this, fiscal full year revenue of $50m for 2026 is still down on $59m for 2025...

Lumentum Holdings Inc of San Jose, CA, USA (which designs and makes photonic products for optical networks and lasers for industrial and consumer markets) says that president & CEO Michael Hurlston has been selected to receive the 2026 Optica i4 Individual Achievement Prize, recognizing his leadership and contributions to the global optics and photonics industry. The award is being presented on 24 September during the Global Photonics Economic Forum 2026 in Málaga, Spain...

Photonic simulation CAD software developer Photon Design Ltd of Oxford, UK says that it has enabled pioneering, multi-junction vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) simulation, within its HAROLD simulation tool...

On 23 July, the Vermont Gallium-Nitride (V-GaN) Tech Hub hosted an open house to showcase its new Test and Characterization Facility (TCL), which is described as a critical resource for accelerating the transition of advanced semiconductor technologies from development to commercial deployment...

Since the development of power diodes and thyristors in the 1950s, silicon has been the dominant material for power electronics across applications ranging from electric vehicles to wind turbines. However, the emergence of wide-bandgap semiconductors such as silicon carbide (SiC) and gallium nitride (GaN) has enabled industry to push to higher voltages and smaller form factors while increasing efficiency and maintaining reliability. At the same time, early-stage research into the next generation of semiconductor materials, ultrawide-bandgap (UWBG) semiconductors, threatens to disrupt this space further...

A Chinese research team has achieved consecutive breakthroughs in gallium nitride (GaN) heterojunction bipolar transistors (HBTs), with results published in IEEE Electron Device Letters (IEEE EDL) in both 2025 and 2026. The 2026 paper was selected as an Editor’s Pick, marking a transition for GaN HBTs from frequency characterization to practical power application evaluation...

Gallium nitride (GaN) power IC and silicon carbide (SiC) technology firm Navitas Semiconductor Corp of Torrance, CA, USA and South Korea-based Magnachip Semiconductor Corp (which designs and manufactures of analog and mixed-signal power semiconductor platform solutions) have announced a strategic partnership to accelerate adoption of SiC technologies in high-voltage (HV) and ultra-high-voltage (UHV) power markets...

Artificial intelligence (AI) interconnect technology company Palomino Laboratories Inc of Goleta, CA, USA has shipped its first micro-LED light engine prototypes to its first hyperscaler customer. Furthermore, the customer completed its evaluation and provided Palomino with test measurement results confirming that the measured micro-LED bandwidth exceeded Palomino’s initial design targets...

Deposition equipment maker Aixtron SE of Herzogenrath, near Aachen, Germany is now actively recruiting for a variety of roles at the new facility that it is building in Penang, Malaysia...

Volta Metals Ltd of Toronto, Canada (which owns, has optioned and is currently exploring a critical minerals portfolio of rare-earths, gallium, lithium, cesium and tantalum projects in Ontario) has entered into a definitive purchase agreement with RZJ Capital Management LLC to acquire — for $1m in cash plus 10 million common shares at a deemed price of $0.20 per share — the remaining 20% interest in the Springer Rare Earth Element (REE) and Gallium Deposit, which spans 4750-hectares on the traditional territory of the Nipissing First Nations in Sturgeon Falls, about 70km east of Sudbury, Ontario...

AXT Inc of Fremont, CA, USA — which makes gallium arsenide (GaAs), indium phosphide (InP) and germanium (Ge) substrates and raw materials at plants in China — has appointed Jia-Bin Duh to its board, increasing the number of directors to six...

For first-half 2026, molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) system maker Riber S.A. of Bezons, France has reported revenue of €12.8m, up 19% on €10.7m in first-half 2025...

Singapore-based fabless silicon photonics company SILITH Technology has announced the first mass-production wafer delivery of photonic ICs from the Singapore fab of foundry United Microelectronics Corp (UMC) of Hsinchu, Taiwan, advancing the partnership between the two companies to scale next-generation silicon photonics manufacturing...

In booth B03 (Hall 16) at Power Electronics, Intelligent Motion, Renewable Energy and Energy Management (PCIM Asia 2026) in Shenzhen, China (26–28 August), 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 — is showcasing its newest-generation GaN technology, demonstrating how its Gen7 GaN platform enables compact, high-performance power architectures for intelligent motion control and AI power delivery. The latest generation of eGaN devices combines ultra-low on-resistance, low switching losses and high-frequency operation to simplify system integration while improving efficiency, dynamic response, and thermal performance...