Today it has 160 employees, 60 in El Segundo. Sheridan plans to put much of the new cash into hiring, especially engineers. It's also pushing into new markets: data center computers, solar power inverters and power systems for electric vehicles. The company has deals with major manufacturers such as Dell and big aftermarket suppliers such as Anker. There are other gallium nitride power chip companies, but, according to Navitas' filing documents, the company's market share is bigger than the others' combined. Only 2% of the charger market today consists of devices made with gallium nitride chips, versus 98% for silicon chips.
#How to use sketchy micro plus#
That, plus gallium nitride's current low-volume production, should help Navitas avoid the bottlenecks seen elsewhere in the chip business, Sheridan said. Modern silicon fab plants turn out 12-inch and sometimes 18-inch wafers.īecause these gallium nitride chips are smaller than their silicon counterparts, a lot more can be put on a single wafer. Those plants etch a large number of chips onto 6-inch-diameter wafers that are then cut into individual chips. Perhaps that's why the stock was slow out of the gate, with the share price closing down 3.47% at $12.80.īut Sheridan said using gallium nitride chips gives the company a supply chain edge, allowing it to take advantage of unused or underused chip fabrication plants built in the 1980s and 1990s. Semiconductor supply chain problems could constrain that growth. With revenue of only $12 million and no profit yet, Navitas' valuation reflects tremendous growth expectations both for gallium nitride chips in general and the company in particular. "Who doesn't want faster charging with smaller, lighter weight?" said Navitas Chief Executive Gene Sheridan, one of four co-founders. The vast majority of computer chips are made with silicon, but Navitas said its chips outperform that material for charging, making it faster, cooler and more energy efficient, with smaller charge units. Navitas will use the cash to expand its core business-selling chips made of gallium nitride to makers of phone and laptop chargers-and move into new markets. Its stock offering created a company with an enterprise value of about $1 billion and brought in $320 million in cash.
The company is Navitas, based in El Segundo.
0 kommentar(er)
