Microchip Expands Space Power Portfolio with New Radiation-Tolerant GaN Point-of-Load Converter - ELE Times

Microchip's radiation-hardened GaN PoL converter is not a product increment—it confirms that space power architecture is undergoing a generational material shift from silicon to GaN. The historical blocker, in-orbit radiation degradation of GaN, has been engineered past through advanced epitaxial growth and shielding packaging. The cascade runs both directions. Upstream, GaN epi-wafer producers concentrated in mainland China and Taiwan, China unlock a high-margin vertical. Downstream, satellite integrators can cut power-module volume by 40%+, directly rewriting launch-mass budgets for LEO constellations. The buried risk is supply-chain concentration: with GaN substrate capacity heavily anchored in mainland China, Western space programs face a single-point-of-failure under escalating export-control regimes. TI and ADI, who have held a duopoly in space power ICs for two decades, will be forced into a price-performance arms race. Within 18 months, expect at least three additional radiation-tolerant GaN power products to reach the market. The long-tail effect is structural: in 400–800 V bus topologies demanded by next-generation constellations, GaN's switching-loss advantage will restructure the $2B+ space power market. That is where the real margin migration happens.