The world’s largest foundry TSMC recently announced that it will team up with STMicroelectronics with an aim to speed up the development of GaN (Gallium Nitride) process technology and time-to-market of advanced GaN solutions, the Central News Agency reported on February 21. Under the tie-up, ST’s GaN products will be fabricated using TSMC’s GaN process technology. GaN is a wide bandgap semiconductor material to ensure better energy efficiency and has been widely adopted in a broad range of applications such as automotive, industrial, telecom, and some specific consumer applications. GaN-based products such as automotive converters and chargers for hybrid and electric vehicles are reportedly to be 10 times faster than silicon-based products on the same topologies. This allows ST to come out with more high efficiency solutions for medium- and high-power applications. ST anticipates the first sample of power GaN devices to be delivered later this year, followed by GaN IC products a few months later.