News: Microelectronics
30 January 2024
QPT gains a second GaN Systems co-founder as advisor
Independent power electronics company Quantum Power Transformation (QPT) of Cambridge, UK (which was founded in 2019) says that a second co-founder of GaN Systems Inc of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada (a fabless developer of gallium nitride-based power switching semiconductors for power conversion and control applications), Girvan Patterson, has joined his fellow co-founder Geoff Haynes, former VP of business development at GaN Systems, as an advisor to QPT. Patterson was CEO at GaN Systems (now part of Infineon) for over eight years and has been the founder of three major start-ups and led seven IPOs and M&A transactions.
“It is a testament to our vision and technology that two founders of GaN Systems have joined QPT,” says QPT’s CEO Rupert Baines. “They have an incredible understanding of GaN technology and the market which they will be using to accelerate the growth of the company and the deployment of our award-winning qGaN technology into key companies in the market,” he adds.
Picture: Former GaN Systems’ CEO Girvan Patterson.
“Geoff and I are passionate about GaN and are really excited to be working on GaN again as it starts the next exciting phase of its development,” says Patterson. “GaN in high-power, high-voltage, hard-switching applications has issues of overheating and RF interference, preventing it from being driven over 100kHz,” he adds. “QPT has solved these problems with its qGaN technology that will open up new markets. Now GaN can be driven at significantly higher speeds, which are around 23 times faster than SiC [silicon carbide], and thus deliver unprecedented energy savings by slashing the electricity wastage that currently happens in motor drives. As 45% of the world’s electricity is used by electric motors, which is a major contributor to CO2 levels, QPT’s mission is to drive the fast, mass adoption of qGaN technology, which can cut energy wastage by around 10% and thus have a tangible effect on reducing climate change. QPT’s commitment to this mission was the clincher for me joining the company as it means that I can personally help make a difference.”
QPT appoints Rupert Baines as CEO
