Renesas Completes Acquisition of Transphorm

Accelerates wide bandgap product offering and introduces 15 new GaN-based reference designs for successful product portfolio

TOKYO, Japan, June 20, 2024― Renesas Electronics ("Renesas"), a global supplier of semiconductor solutions, today announced that it has completed the acquisition of Transphorm, Inc. ("Transphorm"), a global supplier of gallium nitride (GaN) power semiconductors, on June 20, 2024. With the completion of the acquisition, Renesas will immediately begin providing GaN-based power products and related reference designs to meet the growing demand for wide bandgap (WBG) semiconductor products.

Compared with traditional silicon-based devices, WBG materials such as GaN and silicon carbide (SiC) have excellent power efficiency, higher switching frequency and smaller footprint, and are therefore seen as key technologies for next-generation power semiconductors. Driven by demand from electric vehicles (EVs), inverters, data center servers, artificial intelligence (AI), renewable energy, industrial power conversion and consumer applications, both GaN and SiC products are expected to grow rapidly in the next decade.

“Customers can immediately benefit from new GaN products through turnkey reference designs that integrate technology from both companies,” said Chris Allexandre, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Power at Renesas . “The addition of GaN to our product lineup reinforces our commitment to developing products and technologies that make people’s lives easier. We do this by delivering powerful and sustainable power solutions that save energy, reduce costs and minimize impact on the environment.”

Investing in the power business is an important part of Renesas' strategy to achieve sustainable long-term growth. Other recent steps taken by Renesas to consolidate this market segment include: opening the Kofu Plant, a 300mm wafer fab dedicated to power products; adding a new SiC production line at the Takasaki Plant; and reaching an agreement with Wolfspeed to ensure a stable supply of SiC wafers for the next 10 years. With GaN technology now part of the Renesas product lineup, Renesas is ready to provide more comprehensive power solutions to meet the evolving needs of customers in a wide range of applications.

On the same day that the acquisition of Transphorm was completed, Renesas launched 15 new winning product combinations, which are market-ready reference designs that combine new GaN products with Renesas' embedded processing, power, connectivity, and analog products. These include Transphorm's automotive-grade GaN technology for on-board battery chargers and three-in-one powertrain solutions for electric vehicles.

For example:

• 500W two-wheel electric vehicle on-board battery charger  Three-in-one electric vehicle system: inverter, on-board charger, DC/DC converter

• 240W 48V Extended Power Range AC/DC Adapter
  

• 3.6KW bidirectional digital power supply DAB system

Transphorm was founded in 2007 and is headquartered in Goleta, California, USA. It originated from the University of California, Santa Barbara and the broadband and tight-band industry, and is based on unique technological innovation. Transphorm is an innovator in the field of GaN semiconductors, designing, manufacturing and selling high-performance, high-reliability GaN power products that are widely used in a variety of high-voltage power conversion applications.

Renesas Empowers

Driven by innovation, quality, and reliability, Renesas Electronics is an important player in power electronics, shipping more than 4 billion parts per year, including power management ICs, discrete and wide bandgap products, computing power products, etc. These products cover all major areas, including automotive, IoT, infrastructure, and industrial applications. Our power product portfolio seamlessly connects to our excellent MCU, MPU, SoC, and analog solutions, simplifying and accelerating the design process through hundreds of successful product combinations that have been reviewed by engineering and innovative tools such as PowerCompass™ and PowerNavigator™ design software.