Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday in a statement said that it would phase out its compound semiconductor gallium nitride (GaN) business over the next two years, citing market dynamics.
The decision would not affect its financial targets announced previously, the world’s biggest contract chipmaker said.
“We are working closely with our customers to ensure a smooth transition and remain committed to meeting their needs during this period,” it said. “Our focus continues to be on delivering sustained value to our partners and the market.”
Photo: Bloomberg
TSMC’s latest move came unexpectedly, as the chipmaker had said in its annual report that it has developed second-generation 650 volt and 100 volt GaN chips, with production expected to commence this year, while it is developing an 8-inch 650 volt enhanced high-electron-mobility transistor scheduled for production next year.
GaN-based chips are emerging as an alternative to silicon-based chips in applications demanding high power efficiency, faster switch speeds and smaller form factors. The chips are used in the automotive industry, data centers and optoelectronics.
Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (力積電) is to succeed TSMC as a supplier of high-voltage GaN chips to Navitas Semiconductor Inc, Navitas said in a statement on Tuesday.
Powerchip has reached an agreement with Navitas to produce GaN chips at its 200mm plant in Miaoli County’s Jhunan Science Park (竹南科學園區).
Powerchip is to manufacture Navitas’ GaN portfolio with ratings from 100 volts to 650 volts, supporting growing demand from hyperscale artificial intelligence data centers and electric vehicles, Navitas said.
Qualification of initial devices is expected in the fourth quarter this year and the 100 volt family is expected to start production at Powerchip in the first half of next year, while 650 volt devices would transition from TSMC to Powerchip over the next 12 to 24 months, Navitas said.
Powerchip’s fab has been operational since 2019 and supports high-volume manufacturing processes for GaN, ranging from micro-LEDs to radio frequency GaN devices, the company added.
When Lika Megreladze was a child, life in her native western Georgian region of Guria revolved around tea. Her mother worked for decades as a scientist at the Soviet Union’s Institute of Tea and Subtropical Crops in the village of Anaseuli, Georgia, perfecting cultivation methods for a Georgian tea industry that supplied the bulk of the vast communist state’s brews. “When I was a child, this was only my mum’s workplace. Only later I realized that it was something big,” she said. Now, the institute lies abandoned. Yellowed papers are strewn around its decaying corridors, and a statue of Soviet founder Vladimir Lenin
UNCERTAINTIES: Exports surged 34.1% and private investment grew 7.03% to outpace expectations in the first half, although US tariffs could stall momentum The Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) yesterday raised its GDP growth forecast to 3.05 percent this year on a robust first-half performance, but warned that US tariff threats and external uncertainty could stall momentum in the second half of the year. “The first half proved exceptionally strong, allowing room for optimism,” CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) said. “But the growth momentum may slow moving forward due to US tariffs.” The tariff threat poses definite downside risks, although the scale of the impact remains unclear given the unpredictability of US President Donald Trump’s policies, Lien said. Despite the headwinds, Taiwan is likely
UNIFYING OPPOSITION: Numerous companies have registered complaints over the potential levies, bringing together rival automakers in voicing their reservations US President Donald Trump is readying plans for industry-specific tariffs to kick in alongside his country-by-country duties in two weeks, ramping up his push to reshape the US’ standing in the global trading system by penalizing purchases from abroad. Administration officials could release details of Trump’s planned 50 percent duty on copper in the days before they are set to take effect on Friday next week, a person familiar with the matter said. That is the same date Trump’s “reciprocal” levies on products from more than 100 nations are slated to begin. Trump on Tuesday said that he is likely to impose tariffs
HELPING HAND: Approving the sale of H20s could give China the edge it needs to capture market share and become the global standard, a US representative said The US President Donald Trump administration’s decision allowing Nvidia Corp to resume shipments of its H20 artificial intelligence (AI) chips to China risks bolstering Beijing’s military capabilities and expanding its capacity to compete with the US, the head of the US House Select Committee on Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party said. “The H20, which is a cost-effective and powerful AI inference chip, far surpasses China’s indigenous capability and would therefore provide a substantial increase to China’s AI development,” committee chairman John Moolenaar, a Michigan Republican, said on Friday in a letter to US Secretary of
RSS