Canadian power chip manufacturer GaN Systems has raised around $150 million in funding to expand its market share and enter the electric car market.
The strategic partnership with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company in terms of production volume and deployment of gallium nitride (GaN) proves indispensable as the company moves into the automotive and electric vehicle sectors.
GaN is a material used in chip manufacturing today that ensures that power dissipation is four times lower than traditional chips. Jim Witham, the company’s CEO, said that it has signed its first “capacity agreement” with BMW. The deal with BMW will ensure that the company supplies power chips to the automotive group.
In addition, the company’s chips are also experiencing an increasing demand for chargers for consumer goods, as they are not only smaller but also more energy efficient than silicon chips. Other areas of demand are robots, servers, industrial motors and renewable energy plants.