Allegro to Acquire Heyday
French start-up's advanced gate driver technology expands Allegro’s market in electric vehicles, solar and charging infrastructure
Allegro MicroSystems, a maker of sensing and power semiconductor solutions for motion control and energy-efficient systems, has agreed to acquire the French company Heyday Integrated Circuits.
Formed in 2014, Heyday is a privately-held fabless company specialising in compact, fully-integrated isolated gate drivers that enable energy conversion in high-voltage GaN and SiC semiconductor designs.
Allegro says the Heyday acquisition will complement its existing solutions for energy efficiency, including its market-leading current sensor solutions. Additionally, it is expected to significantly expand Allegro’s addressable market for electric vehicles (xEV), solar inverters, datacenter and 5G power supplies, and broad-market industrial applications.
“With high-powered GaN and SiC wide bandgap systems expected to grow significantly over the next decade, our customers are facing an exponential demand for simplified power management solutions,” said Michael Doogue, SVP of Technology and Products at Allegro.
“High-voltage isolated gate drivers are a fundamental enabling technology for the future of high-efficiency power system designs. Coupled with our market-leading integrated current sensors, Heyday’s Power-Thru technology will allow our customers to build some of the smallest high-voltage and high efficiency power systems available today.”
Future-Proofing EVs and Green Energy Applications
GaN and SiC power devices are expected to rapidly gain market share in electric vehicle and green energy applications. Traditional gate driver solutions often require large system footprints and additional components, such as bulky transformers or filters, separate PCBs, and connectors, to achieve EMC compliance and meet safety regulations.
Heyday’s isolated gate driver solutions use a single, small-footprint package that integrates an isolated gate driver, an isolated power supply, and associated passive components. This significantly reduces system design time and complexity and makes it possible for designers to take advantage of the full efficiency benefits that WBG switches provide. Additionally, the reduced system design time and complexity help alleviate the need for additional engineering and design resources.
"We look forward to welcoming Heyday's talented and innovative team to the Allegro family," said Vijay Mangtani, VP of Power ICs at Allegro. "When completed, this acquisition will greatly accelerate our efforts to deliver a market-leading energy efficient technology platform for high voltage designs in green energy, advanced mobility, and motion control solutions."
Allegro will pay approximately $19 million in cash for the acquisition of Heyday, subject to customary purchase price adjustments. The acquisition is expected to close in the third quarter of calendar year 2022, subject to customary closing conditions and required regulatory approvals.
