EPC Signs Strategic GaN Licensing and Second-Source Deal with Renesas

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Efficient Power Conversion (EPC), the world leader in enhancement-mode gallium nitride (eGaN®) power devices, announced a comprehensive licensing agreement with Renesas Electronics Corporation, a premier global supplier of advanced semiconductor solutions and high-voltage GaN transistors.

Under the agreement, Renesas will gain access to EPC’s proven low-voltage eGaN technology and its established supply-chain ecosystem, accelerating the adoption of high-performance GaN solutions across a broad range of markets. EPC and Renesas will collaborate over the next year to establish internal wafer fabrication capabilities for these products. In addition, Renesas will second-source several of EPC’s popular GaN devices that are already in mass production, enhancing supply-chain resilience for customers.

As power electronics designers push for higher efficiency, greater power density, and lower carbon footprints, the physical limits of silicon increasingly constrain performance and miniaturization. Compared with silicon, GaN transistors offer higher efficiency, faster switching speeds, and significantly smaller form factors. These advantages are reshaping power conversion architectures across applications ranging from consumer electronics to AI data centers. This alliance expands customer access to GaN technology while providing increased supply assurance through qualified second sourcing.

“Together, EPC and Renesas are forming a global alliance to deliver state-of-the-art power efficiency - cutting costs in AI data centers and enhancing autonomous systems. This is an exciting moment for our industry and our company,” said Alex Lidow, CEO of EPC.

Renesas, a multi-billion-dollar semiconductor company with global sales, marketing, and manufacturing capabilities, recently completed its acquisition of Transphorm to strengthen its high-voltage GaN portfolio. Its GaN technology excels in applications such as AC-DC power supplies, EV chargers, solar inverters, and industrial motor drives, delivering high reliability even in harsh operating environments. The addition of EPC’s low-voltage eGaN expertise allows Renesas to offer one of the industry’s most comprehensive GaN power portfolios, spanning low- to high-voltage applications and further accelerating the GaN revolution.

“Expanding our business into low‑voltage GaN allows us to serve the fastest‑growing power segments,” said Rohan Samsi, VP, GaN Business Division at Renesas. “This agreement with EPC complements our established high-voltage 650V+ portfolio and enables us to capitalize on high-volume markets such as AI power architectures from 48V down to 12V and 1V, as well as client computing and battery-operated applications.”