News: Microelectronics
23 February 2023
Transphorm’s product revenue grows 25% in December quarter
For fiscal third-quarter 2023 (to end-December 2022), Transphorm Inc of Goleta, near Santa Barbara, CA, USA — which designs and manufactures JEDEC- and AEC-Q101-qualified gallium nitride (GaN) field-effect transistors (FETs) for high-voltage power conversion — has reported revenue of $4.5m, down slightly on $4.6m a year ago but up 22% on last quarter’s $3.67m (exceeding the prior 20% quarterly growth rate). Product revenue was up 25% sequentially and 9% year-on-year, reflecting another strong quarter from ramping shipments of GaN products for a broad range of power conversion applications.
“This quarter saw solid execution and higher-than-expected revenues, with our product revenues being driven by strong traction in the higher-power space,” notes chief financial officer Cameron McAulay.
Highlights are listed as:
- increased total design-ins for power adapters and fast chargers to over 80 (with over 25 in production) and total design-ins for higher power (300W–4kW) to over 55 (with over 25 in production);
- a robust five-year pipeline opportunity that now stands at over $400m;
- shipping production quantities of Transphorm SuperGaN Technology used in the HPi (HP) power adapter (as revealed by a recent product teardown), solidifying Transphorm’s GaN-FET technology in the low- and mid-power adapter space;
- secured and shipped a new production order for 100,000 units for another worldwide top-5 laptop manufacturer;
- new >2kW UPS production win with a global leader in energy, continuing Transphorm’s leadership in high-power GaN.
- the firm’s products exceeding 100 billion hours of field operating reliability including in both low-power and high-power applications (believe to be one of the industry’s best and only reported broad power spectrum reliability rating for GaN power);
- availability of a new 240W Power Adapter Reference Design, bringing industry-standard thru-hole packaging delivering power density advantages at low cost to power supplies;
- completing submission for a $15m Navy program which, if awarded, will expand metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) manufacturing capacity and capability to increase the firm’s RF epiwafer sales (the firm’s second business vertical).
“Our business momentum is exemplified by another strong quarter of design wins as we aggressively pursued and won numerous additional designs-in both high-power and low-power markets, including world-wide tier-1 leaders like HP,” says president, COO & co-founder Primit Parikh. “We look forward to building on our success in this segment of the adapter market, while further growing our leadership in high power, which comprised more than 70% of our revenue in the quarter [up from 65% last quarter],” he adds.
On a non-GAAP basis, operating expenses have risen further, from $4.4m a year ago and $5.1m last quarter to $5.9m.
Net loss has risen from $4.3m ($0.09 per share) a year ago and $5.1m ($0.09 per share) last quarter to $9.1m ($0.16 per share). However, this includes a one-time write-off of $2.8m ($0.05 per share) for epiwafer inventory resulting largely from the process of bringing up the firm’s Japan epitaxial reactors over the last several quarters.
During the quarter, cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash fell from $34m to $23.6m.
“As we enter calendar year 2023, the company is well positioned and remains keenly focused on achieving continued short-term momentum and long-term growth, driven by a robust pipeline,” says chief financial officer Cameron McAulay.
“While we still face near term macro-headwinds, we remain well-positioned to translate the above momentum to business growth in fiscal 2024,” reckons Parikh. “We also made solid progress on our plans to ramp up additional capacity over the coming year, in order to be prepared and ready to meet the significant demand that lies ahead.”
Transphorm GaN FET designed into HP’s 65W USB-C PD/PPS power adapter
Transphorm releases compact 240W power adapter reference design with TO-220 GaN FETs
Transphorm’s quarterly growth dips, but product revenue still up 38% year-on-year
Transphorm’s quarterly revenue doubles year-on-year to record $4.93m
