Transphorm

Transphorm, Inc. is an American semiconductor company focused on producing transistors made from gallium nitride (GaN) for use in switched-mode power supplies. The company was acquired by Renesas Electronics in 2024.[1]

History

Transphorm was founded in February 2007 in Delaware.[2][3] It is headquartered in Goleta, California, close to the University of California at Santa Barbara (UCSB) from which the company is an offshoot and where the co-founder and CTO, Umesh Mishra, is a professor.

In 2011, Google Ventures invested $20 million into Transphorm. The money was to assist the company's development of power conversion technologies.[4][5] It also received capital from Kleiner Perkins and others amounting to $18 million.[5]

In September 2012, Transphorm released the TPH2006PS which was the first JEDEC qualified 600V HEMT in the industry.[6][7]

In November 2013, Transphorm teamed up with Fujitsu Semiconductor to integrate its GaN power devices into power supply businesses with Fujitsu as well as Fujitsu Semiconductor only taking minority equity positions.[8][9][10]

In 2015, it received a $70 million investment which was led by the global investment firm KKR.[11]

Transphorm went public by reversing merging with a special-purpose acquisition company, Peninsula Acquisition Corporation, in February 2020.[12][13] In August 2021, Transphorm acquired 100% interest in the AFSW wafer-fab facility from GaNovation, a manufacturer for high voltage GaNs.[14]

In March 2023, Transphorm released the first gallium nitride (GaN) System-in-Package (SiP) together with Weltrend Semiconductor Inc.. The Weltrend SiP will be showcased by Transphorm at the 2023 Applied Power Electronics Conference (APEC).[15][16]

Together with Yaskawa Electric, Transphorm has developed a new patented technology for GaN power transistors with a short circuit withstand time (SCWT) of 5 microseconds in August 2023.[17][18]

In January 2024, Renesas Electronics agreed to acquire Transphorm for $339 million.[19] On June 20, 2024, it was announced that Renesas had completed the purchase of the company.