Navitas Initiates Strategic Manufacturing Investments

By: Navitas Semiconductor Corporation via GlobeNewswire

May 30, 2023 at 16:05 PM EDT

TORRANCE, Calif., May 30, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Navitas Semiconductor (Nasdaq: NVTS), the industry-leader in next-generation power semiconductors, announced the first in a series of strategic manufacturing investments, to increase control, reduce costs and enhance revenue capacity for its GeneSiC silicon carbide (SiC) power semiconductors.

An initial $20 million investment enables a three-reactor SiC epi-growth facility at the company’s Torrance, CA headquarters. Adding a SiC epitaxial (or “epi”) layer onto a raw SiC wafer is the first step in manufacturing individual SiC power devices. The first AIXTRON G10-SiC epitaxy reactor, with 6” and 8” wafer capability, is expected to be fully qualified and in production in 2024. Navitas views the epi-growth services to be provided by its new facility as a critical process step that could support up to an additional $200 million in annual production. The company expects to continue the use of third-party vendors for additional epi-growth, wafer fabrication and assembly operations.

“We are proud that an important technology innovator such as Navitas chose our new G10-SiC to further accelerate the adoption of SiC in the growing market for energy efficient power devices. This is especially significant as AIXTRON and Navitas are both firm believers and pioneers in the unstoppable advance of GaN and SiC over legacy silicon. It is through partnerships like ours, where highly innovative companies work together, that this important transition can be realized,” says Dr. Felix Grawert, CEO and President of AIXTRON SE.

“Adding a high-quality SiC epi-layer onto a raw SiC wafer is a critical process step prior to individual device manufacturing, and adding the AIXTRON in-house epi capability to existing subcontract process flows expands available capacity, lowers finished wafer cost , increases quality and reduces cycle times,” said Dan Kinzer, Navitas COO / CTO and co-founder. “The development and manufacturing business partnership with Aixtron includes ongoing technical and co-development support.”

Navitas’ investment in internal epi capacity is one of several initiatives in support of the company’s recently-announced $760M customer pipeline of estimated potential future business, based on expressed customer interest for qualified programs. While the conversion of this pipeline into orders or shipments depends on many factors in addition to possessing available capacity, the company expects its epi capacity expansion will provide a favorable return on investment under most anticipated planning scenarios.

Navitas recently completed an $80 million follow-on common stock offering and plans to use proceeds from the offering for strategic manufacturing investments, among other possible uses, including working capital and general corporate purposes.

About Navitas
Navitas Semiconductor (Nasdaq: NVTS) is the only pure-play, next-generation power-semiconductor company, founded in 2014. GaNFast™ power ICs integrate gallium nitride (GaN) power and drive, with control, sensing, and protection to enable faster charging, higher power density, and greater energy savings. Complementary GeneSiC™ power devices are optimized high-power, high-voltage, and high-reliability silicon carbide (SiC) solutions. Focus markets include mobile, consumer, data center, EV, solar, wind, smart grid, and industrial. Over 185 Navitas patents are issued or pending. Over 75 million GaN and 10 million SiC units have been shipped, and Navitas introduced the industry’s first and only 20-year GaNFast warranty. Navitas was the world’s first semiconductor company to be CarbonNeutral®-certified.

About AIXTRON:
AIXTRON SE is a leading provider of deposition equipment to the semiconductor industry. The Company was founded in 1983 and is headquartered in Herzogenrath (near Aachen), Germany, with subsidiaries and sales offices in Asia, United States and in Europe. AIXTRON´s technology solutions are used by a diverse range of customers worldwide to build advanced components for electronic and optoelectronic applications based on compound or organic semiconductor materials. Such components are used in a broad range of innovative applications, technologies and industries. These include Laser and LED applications, display technologies, data transmission, SiC and GaN power management and conversion, communication, signaling and lighting as well as a range of other leading-edge applications.
Our registered trademarks: AIXACT®, AIXTRON®, Atomic Level SolutionS®, Close Coupled Showerhead®, CRIUS®, Gas Foil Rotation®, OVPD®, Planetary Reactor®, PVPD®, TriJet®
For further information on AIXTRON (FSE: AIXA, ISIN DE000A0WMPJ6) please visit our website at: www.aixtron.com

Navitas, GaNFast, GaNSense, GeneSiC, and the Navitas logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Navitas Semiconductor and subsidiaries. All other brands, product names, and marks are or may be trademarks or registered trademarks used to identify products or services of their respective owners.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This press release includes “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. The term “customer pipeline” and related information constitute forward-looking statements. Customer pipeline is not a proxy for backlog or future revenue or other measure or indicator of financial performance. Actual business realized from the customer pipeline depends on ultimate customer selection, program share and other factors discussed below.

Forward-looking statements may be identified by the use of words such as “we expect” or “are expected to be,” “estimate,” “plan,” “project,” “forecast,” “intend,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “seek,” or other similar expressions that predict or indicate future events or trends or that are not statements of historical matters. Customer pipeline and other forward-looking statements are made based on estimates and forecasts of financial and performance metrics and projections of market opportunity and market share. These statements are based on various assumptions, whether or not identified in this press release. These statements are also based on current expectations of the management of Navitas and are not predictions of actual performance. Such forward-looking statements are provided for illustrative purposes only and are not intended to serve as, and must not be relied on by any investor as, a guarantee, an assurance, a prediction or a definitive statement of fact or probability. Actual events and circumstances are difficult or impossible to predict and will differ from assumptions and expectations. Many actual events and circumstances that affect performance are beyond the control of Navitas. Forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, including the possibility that the expected growth of our business will not be realized, or will not be realized within expected time periods, due to, among other things, the failure to successfully integrate acquired businesses into our business and operational systems; the effect of the acquisition on customer and supplier relationships or the failure to retain and expand those relationships; the success or failure of other business development efforts; Navitas’ financial condition and results of operations; Navitas’ ability to accurately predict future revenues for the purpose of appropriately budgeting and adjusting Navitas’ expenses; Navitas’ ability to diversify its customer base and develop relationships in new markets; Navitas’ ability to scale its technology into new markets and applications; the effects of competition on Navitas’ business, including actions of competitors with an established presence and resources in markets we hope to penetrate, including silicon carbide markets; the level of demand in our customers’ end markets, both generally and with respect to successive generations of products or technology; Navitas’ ability to attract, train and retain key qualified personnel; changes in government trade policies, including the imposition of tariffs; the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Navitas’ business, results of operations and financial condition; the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the global economy, including but not limited to Navitas’ supply chain and the supply chains of customers and suppliers; regulatory developments in the United States and foreign countries; and Navitas’ ability to protect its intellectual property rights. These and other risk factors are discussed in the Risk Factors section beginning on p. 15 of our annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2022, and in other documents we file with the SEC, including our quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. If any of these risks materialize or our assumptions prove incorrect, actual results could differ materially from the results implied by these forward-looking statements. There may be additional risks that Navitas is not aware of or that Navitas currently believes are immaterial that could also cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements. In addition, forward-looking statements reflect Navitas’ expectations, plans or forecasts of future events and views as of the date of this press release. Navitas anticipates that subsequent events and developments will cause Navitas’ assessments to change. However, while Navitas may elect to update these forward-looking statements at some point in the future, Navitas specifically disclaims any obligation to do so. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing Navitas’ assessments as of any date subsequent to the date of this press release.

Contact Information:
Ragah Dorenkamp, Director Corporate Communications
+49 (2407) 9030-1830, mobile +49 (151) 74607360, e-mail r.dorenkamp@aixtron.com

Stephen Oliver, VP Corporate Marketing & Investor Relations, ir@navitassemi.com

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Navitas Semiconductor, Nasdaq NVTS