Infineon to build Europe’s first high-volume 300mm GaN power semiconductor plant - New Electronics

Infineon's 300mm GaN plant is not a capacity announcement—it's a cost-structure reset. Quadrupling wafer output versus 150mm pushes per-die cost down 30-40%, converting GaN's edge over SiC from a performance advantage into a price kill across the 650V-900V band. The real bottleneck isn't epitaxy; it's defect-density control and backside thinning at 300mm. Whether Aixtron's MOCVD tools and substrate suppliers can deliver 300mm-grade GaN-on-SiC will determine if this line ramps meaningfully by 2026. Competitively, ST's 200mm GaN is in production but limited in scale; onsemi's roadmap still sits at 150mm; Chinese players (Sanan, Innoscience) are capped at 150mm and constrained by equipment export controls. Infineon skips the intermediate step entirely—300mm is a dual moat of capital intensity and process know-how. Within 18 months, AI data-center 800VDC architectures and 800V EV on-board chargers will be the primary GaN demand engines. SiC retains ground above 1200V, but below 900V, GaN will systematically erode its share. Layered on EU Chips Act subsidies and a generational technology gap, Infineon is well positioned to lock in exclusive GaN supply agreements with automotive Tier-1s well before 2027.