Startups lead hot power-GaN market…for now

By Adele Hars for the Ojo & Yoshida Report – Fast chargers for power-hungry mobile phones are among the applications creating opportunities for GaN entrants.

A new crop of startups like Innoscience and Navitas dominates the soon-to-be billion-dollar power-GaN market. Fast chargers for mobile phones are the drivers, with a 70 percent CAGR. Electric vehicles (EV), renewables and data centers are next – but they’re in the sites of the old guard. Will the upstarts make the transition?

Gallium nitride (GaN) for power is hot again. Seemingly out of nowhere a new crop of startups is dominating the power-GaN market, driven by fast chargers for ever-larger and more power-hungry mobile phones. GaN can render the chargers much smaller, faster and more energy efficient. The Ojo-Yoshida Report had the opportunity to speak with top management at two of the new leaders: Innoscience and Navitas. They’re taking different approaches, but both companies are turning in great numbers. And while the businesses may seem new, their leaders have decades of experience.

Consider that five years ago, the fast-charger market barely existed. The power-GaN market was fairly quiet, dominated by big players like ST, Texas Instruments and Infineon. Now the power-GaN market has a CAGR north of 70 percent and will break through the billion-dollar point by 2026, according to French market watcher Yole Développement (GaN Power 2021: Epitaxy, Devices, Applications and Technology Trends). The GaN upstarts are pushing prices down while pushing up yield and reliability, paving the way for high growth across other applications including automotive, renewable power and data centers. So what we’re seeing today is expected to be just the tip of the iceberg… More info.