NI buys power semiconductor test supplier SET

The companies will look to reduce time to market for critical, highly differentiated solutions and accelerate semiconductor-to-transportation supply-chain convergence with power electronic materials such as silicon carbide (SiC) and gallium nitrite (GaN). NI first announced a strategic minority investment in SET in 2020 to help aerospace and defence companies solve soaring development costs and integration challenges.

The collaboration enhanced a system-on-demand and model-based test approach delivered to shorten time-to-market schedules, reduce program risk, integrate labs, and optimise data and assets.

This offered mutual customers more time spent ensuring the quality and safety of future products and less on building test systems.

These collaborative efforts will continue with a focus on sustainable commercial aviation, space launch vehicles, and urban air mobility applications. Going forward, the acquisition will expand NI’s opportunity in power semiconductor reliability systems for automotive, a high growth area of investment. SET has been innovating on new capabilities in the emerging automotive supply chain area of power semiconductors since before NI’s initial partnership in 2020.

SET’s participation in cross-industry and academic forums on reliability test techniques has made significant contributions to the understanding of electric vehicle applications for power semiconductors. The automotive supply chain is going through a transformation where both OEMs and semiconductor players are rapidly innovating on new technologies.

“The ability to adequately specify and predict how these new technologies behave inside new Electric Vehicles is critical for performance and safety,” said Ritu Favre, EVP and GM of NI Business Units. “SET is a clear innovator in this area as well as an established provider in Avionics testing. NI is a global leader in automated test and measurement systems. By combining capabilities, NI and SET can offer more differentiated solutions to customers and grow together by leveraging NI's global scale.”

“We leverage extensive expertise to develop ground breaking solutions for power semiconductor testing,” said Frank Heidemann, the founder of SET. “By offering new and dynamic test procedures, SET ensures the qualification of cutting-edge Silicon-Carbide (SiC) power semiconductors for the automotive industry with high precision and reliability. With our innovative approach, SET is leading the charge in solving the industry's most pressing qualification challenges.”

NI funded this transaction through cash on hand. SET is headquartered in Wangen, Germany with approximately 100 employees joining NI.