Gallium Future, a developer of gallium nitride power devices supplying products to Lenovo and Xiaomi, secures hundreds of millions of yuan in Series B++ financing | Exclusive from 36Kr

Text | Zhang Bingbing

Editor | A Zhi

36Kr learned that Zhuhai Gallium Future Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Gallium Future") has completed a 100-million-yuan-level Series B++ financing, exclusively invested by Beihai Shanpang. The funds will be mainly used for the R & D of high-voltage/high-power products, supply chain construction, business expansion, etc.

Founded in October 2020, "Gallium Future" focuses on the R & D and application of gallium nitride power devices. It has mass-produced more than 40 product models, covering application scenarios from 30W to 10kW under 650V and 900V voltages. In the first half of this year, the first product of "Gallium Future" based on the third-generation chip design platform completed reliability verification, has been put into mass production and started shipping. Multiple models of products will be launched in the second half of the year.

Currently, the customers of "Gallium Future" cover fields such as mobile phones, laptops, photovoltaic micro-inverters, outdoor energy storage, computing power power supplies, AI supercomputing, and new energy. Including leading customers such as Lenovo, Xiaomi, and Yunneng, mass production has been gradually introduced, and it is expected that the chip sales revenue will exceed 100 million yuan this year.

I. Products of the Third-Generation Design Platform: Figure of Merit Increased by 40%, Cost Reduced by 50%

Gallium nitride power devices refer to power electronic devices manufactured based on gallium nitride (GaN) semiconductor materials, belonging to the third-generation wide-bandgap semiconductor technology. They are widely used in high-frequency, high-power, and high-efficiency power conversion scenarios. With high electron mobility, low on-resistance, and silicon-based process compatibility, gallium nitride has achieved efficiency breakthroughs in high-frequency, medium, and low-power scenarios below 650V and is accelerating its penetration into consumer electronics, data center power supplies, vehicle low-voltage systems, and specific industrial scenarios.

In response to this trend, "Gallium Future" has focused on accelerating chip design, optimizing production processes, and advancing product R & D in recent years.

In terms of chip design, in the first half of this year, the first product of "Gallium Future" based on the third-generation design platform completed reliability verification, has been mass-produced and started shipping.

"The figure of merit of our third-generation products has increased by more than 40% compared with the first generation," said Zhang Wenli, the rotating CEO of "Gallium Future". From the perspective of device iteration, there is a measurement indicator called figure of merit, which covers many measurement standards in device dimensions, such as on-resistance multiplied by junction capacitance. Conservatively estimated, the figure of merit of the products of "Gallium Future"'s third-generation design platform has increased by more than 40% compared with that of the first-generation design platform products.

In terms of production process optimization, "Gallium Future" previously mainly adopted the Fab-lite light IDM model, investing in overseas wafer foundries to iterate core processes, and cooperating with domestic manufacturers in packaging, testing, and other links. Since 2023, "Gallium Future" has established a process team to conduct process iterations in the wafer factory to ensure the yield of wafer production, while improving production efficiency and reducing the tape-out cycle. Since 2024, it has further accelerated the construction of a global supply chain system, realizing "two-legged" development both at home and abroad.

In terms of product R & D, the core product series of "Gallium Future" are discrete power gallium nitride devices with a withstand voltage of 650V - 900V. In recent years, it has continuously expanded the selection of packaging shapes according to customer needs and achieved the function of adjustable speed. Based on its own technological advantages, "Gallium Future" has also independently developed the popular product in the field of power gallium nitride - bidirectional devices, which are currently in the mass production stage. In addition, the first device product of "Gallium Future" that integrates gallium nitride and a driver completed verification last year and has achieved large-scale shipments to important mobile phone clients this year.

The latest bidirectional device

Cost used to be an important factor restricting the application and promotion of gallium nitride, and cost reduction and efficiency improvement are also inevitable issues for gallium nitride device manufacturers. "We have annual cost reduction targets and plans every year," Zhang Wenli introduced. "Gallium Future" has formulated a medium - and long - term cost reduction roadmap for the next five years based on its future product development plan.

Specifically, it continuously iterates at the chip design end to improve the DPW of wafers. On the premise of ensuring performance and reliability, it reduces the area of a single chip and cuts out more chips from the same wafer, thereby reducing the manufacturing cost of a single chip. Compared with the early stage of entrepreneurship, "Gallium Future" has increased the number of particles per wafer by 40% and plans to transition from 6 - inch technology to 8 - inch technology.

Combined with production and supply chain measures, the product cost of "Gallium Future" has been reduced by 50% compared with three years ago. Zhang Wenli summarized this by saying, "We have not only achieved this goal, but the production and manufacturing cost of our gallium nitride devices has already been lower than that of silicon - based devices of the same specification."

II. Balancing the Consumer and Industrial Markets, Expanding Emerging Application Fields

The consumer electronics fields such as mobile phone fast charging and laptop power adapters are relatively mature application markets for gallium nitride products. "Gallium Future" has currently reached cooperation with leading consumer electronics companies such as Lenovo, Xiaomi, and Anker Innovations.

However, the technical threshold and cost requirements of consumer - grade application products mean that the market will fall into price competition. In contrast, enterprises with a larger production scale have more scale advantages to spread production costs, increase profit margins, and expand the market relying on abundant production capacity resources. Zhang Wenli admitted, "We still have a relatively large gap with our competitors in terms of production scale. But we will give full play to our technological advantages and continuously make up for the lack of scale through technological iteration."

With the increasing market demand for AI, new energy, etc., "Gallium Future" is also focusing on expanding application scenarios such as AI, photovoltaics, and new energy vehicles. Taking AI applications as an example, "Gallium Future" provides a 3.5KW conductive cooling power supply for the Guangdong Provincial Institute of Intelligent Science and Technology, which has been supplied in small batches and has been operating stably for two years.

3500W server CRPS conductive cooling power supply

"The key is that we have a complete set of solutions, and our power supply efficiency indicators are leading. So we need to further expand this successful case and deeply explore our value in the market." Currently, "Gallium Future" is planning to build a comprehensive industrial technology R & D platform in the Guangdong - Hong Kong - Macao Greater Bay Area Hengqin Cooperation Zone, focusing on the exploration, innovation, and application of cutting - edge technologies for the efficient power conversion system of AI computing power clusters.

In terms of sales revenue, although the shipment volume of consumer - grade products is higher, the sales revenue and profit of industrial products are more considerable. In the sales revenue of "Gallium Future" in 2024, the revenue contributed by industrial medium - and high - power products exceeded half.

In terms of gross profit margin, the overall gross profit margin of "Gallium Future" is currently between 15% and 20%, and the overall gross profit margin of industrial products is higher than that of the consumer field. How to balance the product needs of the consumer market and the industrial market and explore new market areas is also an important issue for "Gallium Future".

Facing the diverse market demand and increasingly fierce industry competition, the strategy of "Gallium Future" is divided into three major parts: First, broaden the vision, combine the characteristics of "Gallium Future"'s flagship products, and explore potential emerging markets; second, fully understand the existing customers and market demand and provide the optimal solution; finally, return to product technology, improve reliability, increase productivity, and achieve extreme cost - performance through product technology iteration.

In terms of company management, based on the fact that "Gallium Future" has completed the 0 - to - 1 stage from technological breakthrough to market verification, to meet the needs of rapid development in the next few years, "Gallium Future" has also established a rotating CEO system since this year. Dr. Wu Yifeng, the founder and chief scientist of Gallium Future, will focus more on leading the R & D of the company's production process and chip products, while the rotating CEO will focus on business expansion, team expansion, and company management improvement.

Next, "Gallium Future" will invest in the production end and supply chain construction, expand production capacity, and at the same time strive to complete the R & D iteration and release of all third - generation products in 2026 and achieve a 100% increase in sales revenue.

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This article is from the WeChat official account "36Kr Future Industries". Author: Zhang Bingbing, A Zhi. Republished with authorization by 36Kr.