[News] Infineon Accelerates GaN Push While TSMC Exits, with 300mm Wafer Samples Expected 4Q25

While TSMC plans to exit the gallium nitride (GaN) wafer foundry business by 2027, industry heavyweight Infineon is ramping up its efforts. Leveraging its strong IDM model, Infineon, according to its press release, is advancing its scalable GaN production on 300mm wafers, with first customer samples slated for release in Q4 2025.

According to Commercial Times, TSMC plans to end its GaN wafer foundry services by July 31, 2027, citing rising price pressure from Chinese rivals as a key driver. Liberty Times adds that, doubtful about GaN’s low-margin outlook, TSMC has decided to phase out its GaN business and stop R&D on 200mm wafer production. This decision was finalized in mid-June by Chairman and CEO C.C. Wei, following a recommendation from Senior VP of Business Development Kevin Zhang, the report suggests.

However, Infineon—an industry leader in silicon (Si), silicon carbide (SiC), and gallium nitride (GaN)—believes the GaN market remains strong. With higher power density, faster switching, and lower energy loss, GaN enables compact, energy-efficient designs ideal for everything from smartphone chargers to industrial robots and solar inverters, the company states in the press release.

According to Infineon, producing chips on 300mm wafers is technically superior and much more efficient than on 200mm wafers, as the larger size yields 2.3 times more chips per wafer.

It is also worth noting that Infineon is also expanding aggressively on the 200mm SiC market. In August, 2024, the company has officially opened the first phase of its new fab in Malaysia—set to become the world’s largest and most advanced 200mm silicon carbide SiC power semiconductor facility, according to its press release.

China’s Emergence… and Key Challenges

Notably, Chinese players are making strong gains in the 200mm GaN wafer market. Innoscience claims to be the world’s largest 8-inch GaN-focused IDM, operating the largest dedicated GaN-on-Si manufacturing capacity globally.

Nevertheless, margins remain a key challenge for Chinese GaN players. Innoscience reported RMB 828.5 million in revenue for 2024, up 39.8% year-on-year. Despite the improvement, its gross margin remained negative, though the loss narrowed from -61.6% in 2023 to -19.5% in 2024.

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• [News] TSMC to Exit GaN Production by July 2027, Reportedly Repurposes Fab for Advanced Packaging

(Photo credit: Infineon)