Plans for production capacity expansion and artificial intelligence (AI)-based production platform advancement

IVWorks(South Korea), GaN(gallium nitride) epitaxial wafer startup, has announced that it successfully raised $17.4M Series C round funding.

This investment was subsequent to the $6.7M raised in the Series B round in December 2019. YG Investment, Korea Investment & Securities, WONIK Investment Partners, Log Investment, Wooshin Venture Investment, Deslaube PEF, Hyundai Venture Investment, etc., have invested a total of $17.4M in new and existing shares.

The GaN epitaxial wafer, which is characterized by high efficiency and high output power, is a core material used as power and RF(radio frequency) devices. It is employed in the fast chargers of IT products, electric vehicle power convertors, 5G base stations, and defense radars.

IVWorks has used the self-developed technology of a highly efficient and eco-friendly epitaxy system as well as AI-based production platform to produce 6–8 inch GaN-Si epitaxial wafer products used in power devices, 4–6 inch GaN-SiC epitaxial wafer products used in RF devices.

The funds were secured through new investments and are planned for use in the production capacity expansion and AI-based production platform advancement. In particular, recent market circumstances (application of GaN fast charger in IT products of Apple, Samsung, Huawei, etc., and the expansion of GaN power devices use in electric vehicle onboard chargers and power convertors) have been reflected in this funding round, which demonstrate the company’s interest in maintaining differentiated technological competencies and focusing on scaled growth in response to market demand. Furthermore, to proceed with the KOSDAQ listing, IVWorks has entered into a contract with the Korea Investment & Securities listing underwriter. The company announced that it has commenced operation of a full-fledged initial public offering (IPO).

CEO Young-Kyun Noh of IVWorks said, “raising investments concluded favorably owing to recognition of the company’s capacity and epitaxy technology, and expectations towards the GaN power device market has entered the growth phase amid global technological trends such as digital transformation and energy paradigm shift” and also added that “additional collaborations with global semiconductor companies and strategic investments are in progress”