IVWorks acquires French GaN wafer business
South Korean start-up aims to supply GaN-on-GaN epi-wafers in high-power application fields and compete with SiC materials in the EV market
South Korean GaN epi-wafer startup, IVWorks, has acquired the GaN wafer business of Saint-Gobain, a French company that designs, manufactures and distributes materials and services for the construction and industrial markets.
IVWorks is the sole South Korean enterprise specialising in semiconductor materials that has successfully mass-produced GaN epi-wafers of 4-, 6-, and 8-inch. It has to its credit the in-house development of the world’s first epi-wafer production technology integrated with an artificial intelligence production system. The pioneering start-up has also recently installed a 12-inch production facility, for the first time in South Korea.
CEO Young-Kyun Noh of IVWorks said: “Recently, the use of GaN power devices are increasing significantly in all electronic products due to their advantages in terms of energy efficiency, and interest in GaN is high in the EV applications, a new market area.
"Based on this acquisition, we will be able to expand our product portfolio by supplying GaN-on-GaN epi-wafers in high-power application fields and compete with SiC materials in the EV market.”
