Transphorm Co-Founder and CTO Umesh Mishra Awarded IEEE Jun-ichi Nishizawa Medal

National Academy of Engineering Member and UCSB Distinguished Professor Recognized for Outstanding Industry Contributions

Transphorm, Inc. (OTCQX: TGAN)—a pioneer in and global supplier of high reliability, high performance gallium nitride (GaN) power conversion products—announced that its co-founder and CTO Umesh Mishra, Ph.D. was awarded the IEEE Jun-ichi Nishizawa Medal. The honor is given to individuals who have demonstrated outstanding contributions to material and device science and technology, including practical application. Umesh was recognized for his contributions to the development of GaN-based electronics. This is the second IEEE award received by him, the first being the IEEE David Sarnoff Award for the development of GaN electronics.

Umesh has a strong legacy in the field of GaN technology. In 1996, he co-founded Nitres Inc., the first start-up company to develop GaN LEDs and RF transistors. Nitres was acquired by Cree (now Wolfspeed) in 2000. He continued researching and developing GaN-based solutions, expanding focus to high voltage power conversion applications and, in 2007, co-founded Transphorm. Throughout his business career, Umesh has also served in the academic field as a Distinguished Professor in the ECE Department at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) where he has been a director of several GaN research centers.

Influencing GaN Innovation

With Umesh as CTO, Transphorm continues to advance GaN power conversion solutions, setting the bar for high reliability and performance through smart innovation. Select company engineering achievements include being the first to offer JEDEC and AEC-Q101 (automotive) qualified devices; owning the largest IP portfolio with more than 1,000 patents and applications covering core areas of the GaN process end to end; and offering the broadest device portfolio across the power spectrum (45 W to 10+ kW).

Transphorm’s innovations extend to GaN in the RF space, as well. Based on Umesh’s work with his UCSB R&D team, Transphorm is currently developing nitrogen polar (N-polar) GaN epiwafers. N-polar GaN is a breakthrough technology that holds significant promise for the continued advancement of GaN-based electronics, particularly RF/mm-wave applications.

The above momentum led to Transphorm going public in 2020, making it the first pure-play GaN manufacturer to do so. The company currently shows product revenue increasing sequentially for seven consecutive quarters and targets 200% annual product revenue growth through 2023.

About Transphorm

Transphorm, Inc., a global leader in the GaN revolution, designs and manufactures high performance and high reliability GaN semiconductors for high voltage power conversion applications. Having one of the largest Power GaN IP portfolios of more than 1,000 owned or licensed patents, Transphorm produces the industry’s first JEDEC and AEC-Q101 qualified high voltage GaN semiconductor devices. The Company’s vertically integrated device business model allows for innovation at every development stage: design, fabrication, device, and application support. Transphorm’s innovations are moving power electronics beyond the limitations of silicon to achieve over 99% efficiency, 40% more power density and 20% lower system cost. Transphorm is headquartered in Goleta, California and has manufacturing operations in Goleta and Aizu, Japan. For more information, please visit www.transphormusa.com. Follow us on Twitter @transphormusa and WeChat @ Transphorm_GaN.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211209005156/en/

#Transphorm's CTO and Co-Founder Umesh Mishra awarded #IEEE's Jun-ichi Nishizawa medal, recognizing his contributions to the development of #GaN-based #electronics. #powerelectronics #galliumnitride #semiconductors #engineeringthefuture $TGAN