Renesas completes acquisition of Transphorm

With the closing of the acquisition now completed, Renesas will immediately start offering GaN-based power products and related reference designs to meet the rising demand for wide bandgap (WBG) semiconductor products.

WBG materials such as GaN and silicon carbide (SiC) are considered key technologies for next-generation power semiconductors due to their superior power efficiency, higher switching frequencies, and small footprints compared to conventional silicon-based devices. Both GaN and SiC-based products are expected to grow rapidly over the next decade, driven by demand from electric vehicles (EVs), inverters, data centre servers, artificial intelligence (AI), renewable energy, industrial power conversion, consumer applications, and others.

“Customers instantly benefit from the new GaN products through turnkey reference designs, which integrate technologies from both companies,” said Chris Allexandre, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Power at Renesas. “Adding GaN into our portfolio also reinforces our commitment to develop products and technology that make people’s lives easier. Providing robust and sustainable power solutions that save energy, reduce cost, and minimise environmental impacts does just that.”

Investing in the power business is an important part of Renesas’ strategy for achieving sustainable, long-term growth. Other recent moves that Renesas has made to bolster this market segment include: the opening of the Kofu Factory, a dedicated 300mm wafer fab for power products; ramping up a new SiC production line at the Takasaki Factory; and forging an agreement with Wolfspeed to secure a steady supply of SiC wafers over the next 10 years. With GaN technology now part of Renesas’ portfolio, Renesas is poised to offer more comprehensive power solutions to support the evolving needs of customers across a broad range of applications.

On the same day that it completed the acquisition of Transphorm, Renesas rolled out 15 new Winning Combinations, market-ready reference designs that combine the new GaN products with Renesas’ embedded processing, power, connectivity, and analog portfolios. These include the designs of Transphorm’s automotive-grade GaN technology integrated for on-board battery chargers as well as three-in-one powertrain solutions for EVs.

Some examples are:

• 500W onboard battery charger for two-wheeler EV
• Three-in-one EV unit: inverter, onboard charger, DC/DC converter
• 240W 48V extended power range AC/DC adapter

Founded in 2007 in Goleta, California, Transphorm, with roots from the University of California at Santa Barbara and the Wide Bandgap industry, is built on a foundation of unique technology entrepreneurship. Transphorm, an innovator in GaN semiconductors designs, manufactures and sells high-performance and high-reliability GaN power products for a broad spectrum of high-voltage power conversion applications.