Navitas Semiconductor

Company already develops technology with gallium nitride to accelerate battery charging of electrified vehicles

Founded in 2014, the American company Navitas Semiconductor wants to revolutionize the electric vehicle market by increasing its efficiency. The company relies on gallium nitride, a material that has unique properties. Unfortunately, the first results will have to wait until 2025.

Gallium nitride (GaN) power cells are up to 20 times faster than their silicon counterparts, offering triple the charging speed and halving the weight and size of batteries. This technology, says Navitas, is relatively new, but its ubiquitous distribution is hampered by the high cost of the material, which can only be tackled by increasing production volumes.

Over the past three years, the company has partnered with consumer electronics manufacturers such as Dell in the US, as well as China's Vivo and Xiaomi, which have delivered 35 million units. Navitas raised several rounds of funding, raising $100 million from investors and generating $20 million in annual revenue. The company entered the stock market through an acquisition of SPAC with a market capitalization of over $1 billion. Navitas plans to become profitable in 2023.

Now, the company wants to expand into the electric vehicle market. The difficulty is that the auto industry is a very slow industry. It takes 3-4 years to develop a car, so cars with gallium nitride-based chargers will not be on sale until 2025. Navitas has already opened a representative office in Shanghai to establish cooperation with local companies. So far, none of the electric vehicle manufacturers have announced the transition to GaN systems, but they have managed to establish a partnership with BRUSA HyPower, power electronics supplier to Porsche, Audi and Volkswagen. 

Image source: navitassemi.com