GaN power-device industry: supply chain acts to support market growth

Lyon, France. “The GaN power market remains small compared to the $30 billion silicon power semiconductor market,” asserts Dr. Hong Lin, technology and market analyst at Yole Développement. “However, it has an enormous potential in the short term due to its suitability for high-performance and high-frequency solutions.”

The GaN power business was worth about $12 million in 2016, but at Yole, analysts project that the market will reach $460 million by 2022, with an impressive 79% CAGR. Amongst the numerous applications, the market research company mentions lidar, wireless power, and envelope tracking. They are high-end low/medium voltage applications. Today GaN technology is the only existing solution to meet their specific requirements.

Although today only a few players are showing commercial GaN activities, many firms have GaN activities. Therefore, the power GaN supply chain prepares for production. During the 2016-2017 period, Yole’s analysts identified investments that are clearly supporting development and implementation of GaN devices.

Yole differentiates GaN power supply chain into two main models: IDM and foundry. Both models will co-exist while there are different needs on the market—for example, in consumer and industrial applications, explain Yole’s analysts in the power GaN report.

GaN manufacturers continue developing new products and provide samples to costumers, as is the case with EPC and its wireless charging line. Indeed, EPC is still the current market leader today. Other players including GaN systems sell also low-voltage GaN transistors.

System Plus Consulting, part of the Yole group of companies, reveals a detailed comparison of GaN-on-silicon transistors in its new report, GaN-on-Silicon Transistor Comparison. The company analyzes the existing GaN-on-silicon offers. This overview is the state of the art of GaN-on-silicon HEMT. Indeed, it highlights the differences between the design and manufacturing processes; the impacts at epitaxy, device, and packaging level; and related production costs. Devices analyzed by System Plus Consulting have been developed by the leading companies: EPC, Texas Instruments, Panasonic, GaN Systems, and Transphorm.

“The current GaN device market is mainly dominated by devices <200 V. 600-V devices are expected to take off and keep growing. But the <200-V market share will increase again when GaN begins to replace MOSFETs in different applications and enables new applications,” commented Dr. Elena Barbarini, project manager, Power Electronics and Compound Semiconductors at System Plus Consulting. And she adds, “GaN-on-silicon has been a promising solution since the very beginning as its potential of CMOS compatibility and reduced cost.”

Both Yole and System Plus Consulting will attend a selection of key conferences during the next months. At CS International this week, Dr. Hong Lin is presenting the latest results focused on the GaN industry. She will describe the GaN-on-silicon landscape including power electronics, RF, and lighting market segments. In addition, Dr. Elena Barbarini will attend ISPSD, PCIM Europe, and SCAPE.