NextGO Epi thinks gallium oxide could do for power electronics what silicon did for computing
For more than half a century, silicon has been the material that shaped the modern world. Every smartphone, laptop, server and AI processor ultimately traces its origins back to a semiconductor that made computing smaller, faster and more affordable.
Now, Berlin startup NextGO Epi believes another material could one day play a similarly transformative role—not for computing itself, but for the technologies that increasingly power it.
NextGO Epi has raised €2 million in pre-seed funding to expand production of gallium oxide epitaxial wafers, an emerging semiconductor technology intended for next-generation power electronics. The funding round was led by Vireo Ventures, with participation from Ultratech Capital Partners, IBB Ventures and angel investor Boris Habets. The company says the investment will support product development, recruitment and the expansion of its manufacturing capabilities.
The funding announcement is modest by today's venture capital standards. The ambition behind it is not.
"Gallium oxide is to power electronics what silicon was to compute, and Europe should own that value chain," said chief executive Dr Ta-Shun Chou.
It is an ambitious comparison, but it also points to a question receiving growing attention inside the semiconductor industry.
Much of Europe's discussion around technological sovereignty has centred on fabrication plants and advanced processors. Yet every semiconductor begins much further upstream, with specialised materials, crystal growth technologies and manufacturing expertise that only a small number of organisations possess.
If gallium oxide develops into a commercially important semiconductor material, those upstream capabilities could become as strategically valuable as the chips eventually manufactured from them.
Beyond silicon
Silicon remains the foundation of modern electronics because it combines excellent electrical performance with mature, cost-effective manufacturing. For digital computing, it is still the material against which all others are measured.
Power electronics present a different challenge.
As transport, industry, energy systems and AI infrastructure become increasingly electrified, semiconductors must switch ever larger amounts of electrical power while wasting as little energy as possible. Every percentage point of efficiency translates into lower energy losses, reduced cooling requirements and lower operating costs.
That demand has already driven the industry's gradual adoption of silicon carbide (SiC) and gallium nitride (GaN), two so-called wide-bandgap semiconductors now widely used in applications ranging from electric vehicles to fast chargers and renewable energy systems.
Gallium oxide (Ga₂O₃) belongs to a newer class known as ultra-wide-bandgap semiconductors.
Its exceptionally high theoretical electrical breakdown field means future devices made from the material could withstand higher voltages than existing silicon-based devices while remaining relatively compact. Researchers also believe gallium oxide could eventually enable more efficient high-voltage power conversion in applications such as electricity grids, renewable energy infrastructure, industrial power systems and AI data centres.
Those advantages remain largely prospective.
Although gallium oxide has attracted growing research interest worldwide, scientists continue to work on challenges including heat dissipation, device reliability and large-scale manufacturing before the material can compete with today's mature silicon carbide and gallium nitride ecosystems.
For companies such as NextGO Epi, the opportunity lies in solving those manufacturing challenges before demand accelerates.
Building the foundation rather than the finished chip
Unlike many semiconductor startups, NextGO Epi is not designing processors or manufacturing finished electronic devices.
Instead, it occupies a much earlier stage of the value chain by producing gallium oxide epitaxial wafers.
Epitaxy refers to the controlled growth of an ultra-pure crystalline layer on top of a semiconductor wafer. That layer ultimately becomes the foundation on which electronic devices are built, meaning its quality has a direct influence on the performance and reliability of the finished component.
NextGO Epi's expertise centres on metal-organic vapour phase epitaxy (MOVPE), a highly specialised manufacturing process used to grow these crystalline layers with atomic precision. Perfecting that process requires years of materials science, crystal-growth research and manufacturing expertise—one reason companies operating in this part of the semiconductor industry often spend decades refining production techniques before reaching industrial scale.
According to NextGO Epi and the Leibniz Institute for Crystal Growth (IKZ), the company is currently the only European producer of industrial-quality gallium oxide epiwafers with diameters of up to four inches. While significant research programmes are underway elsewhere—notably in Japan, South Korea, China and the United States—Europe has so far developed relatively little commercial manufacturing capability in the material.
That gives the startup a potentially distinctive position if gallium oxide progresses from laboratory research into large-scale industrial deployment.
The European Union has invested heavily in strengthening semiconductor manufacturing through the European Chips Act and related initiatives. Much of that investment has focused on fabrication capacity. Less visible, but no less essential, are the specialised materials that determine what future generations of semiconductors can ultimately achieve.
A spin-out built on years of crystal-growth research
NextGO Epi was founded in April 2025 as a spin-out from Berlin's Leibniz Institute for Crystal Growth (IKZ), one of Europe's leading research institutes specialising in semiconductor crystals and advanced materials.
Its three founders bring complementary expertise developed through years of research into gallium oxide.
Chief executive Dr Ta-Shun Chou specialises in crystal growth and process optimisation, including the use of artificial intelligence to improve semiconductor manufacturing. Dr Andreas Popp leads IKZ's gallium oxide epitaxy activities and has played a central role in developing MOVPE processes for the material. Dr Andreas Fiedler, whose work on gallium oxide spans more than a decade, contributes expertise in semiconductor physics, materials characterisation and device development. Together, the founders bring more than a decade of combined experience in gallium oxide epitaxy, have published more than thirty scientific papers and hold two international patents.
That background sets NextGO Epi apart from many venture-backed deeptech startups.
Rather than commercialising a single laboratory breakthrough, the company is attempting to industrialise a manufacturing capability that has been refined over years of academic research.
The transition from laboratory to factory is also supported by Dr Jochen Linck, former chief operating officer of semiconductor equipment manufacturer Aixtron, who has joined the company as operating partner. His experience scaling advanced semiconductor manufacturing offers a bridge between scientific research and industrial production—a transition that often determines whether promising materials ever reach commercial markets.
The race to industrialise gallium oxide
Scientific promise alone is rarely enough to create a new semiconductor industry.
History is full of materials that looked revolutionary in laboratories but never achieved widespread commercial adoption. Success depends not only on physics, but also on whether companies can manufacture those materials reliably, economically and at industrial scale.
Gallium oxide still has significant hurdles to overcome.
Its exceptionally high theoretical breakdown field has made it one of the most closely watched ultra-wide-bandgap semiconductors, but researchers continue to work on improving heat dissipation, device reliability and manufacturing processes before it can compete with today's well-established silicon carbide and gallium nitride ecosystems. Poor thermal conductivity, in particular, remains one of the material's best-known engineering challenges, prompting work on new device architectures, packaging techniques and cooling strategies.
Those challenges help explain why relatively few companies are attempting to industrialise the technology.
For NextGO Epi, the opportunity lies not in proving that gallium oxide has attractive physical properties—years of academic research have already demonstrated that—but in developing the manufacturing expertise needed to produce high-quality epitaxial wafers consistently and at commercial scale.
More than another university spin-out
NextGO Epi says it is already manufacturing gallium oxide epiwafers, generating revenue and supplying customers across Europe, Asia and North America. The company also collaborates with more than twenty industrial and research organisations, including Foxconn, Gallox Semiconductor, the Ferdinand-Braun-Institut and Taiwan's Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI).
Given that it was founded only last year, that level of commercial activity is notable.
It suggests the funding round is aimed less at proving that the technology works than at expanding manufacturing capacity as demand for next-generation power semiconductors begins to grow.
The investor group reflects that emphasis.
Vireo Ventures specialises in technologies supporting the energy transition, while Ultratech Capital Partners focuses on advanced industrial technologies. Both sectors stand to benefit if future power electronics become smaller, more efficient and capable of handling higher voltages with lower energy losses.
Foxconn's involvement is perhaps equally telling. Best known as one of the world's largest electronics manufacturers, the company would ultimately depend on advances in semiconductor materials reaching industrial production rather than remaining confined to academic laboratories.
Europe enters a global race
Europe is far from alone in recognising gallium oxide's potential.
Japan has spent more than a decade building expertise in the material and remains one of the world's leading centres for gallium oxide research. China has significantly expanded its own research programmes, while development in the United States has received support through government and defence-funded initiatives.
That international landscape makes NextGO Epi's ambitions more significant than the size of its funding round might suggest.
If the company succeeds, Europe would gain more than another semiconductor startup. It would strengthen a capability much earlier in the semiconductor value chain—one centred not on designing chips but on producing one of the advanced materials from which future generations of power devices could eventually be built.
The value chain before the chip
Dr Ta-Shun Chou's comparison between gallium oxide and silicon is deliberately provocative.
Silicon transformed computing not simply because it possessed remarkable physical properties, but because an entire industrial ecosystem gradually formed around it. Materials suppliers, equipment manufacturers, fabrication plants and device designers evolved together over decades until silicon became the foundation of the digital economy.
Gallium oxide is nowhere near that stage.
Whether it ever reaches comparable commercial importance remains an open question. Silicon carbide and gallium nitride are already mature technologies with established manufacturing ecosystems, while gallium oxide still faces years of engineering and industrial development before its long-term position becomes clear.
Even so, the direction of travel is difficult to ignore.
As transport, industry, electricity networks and AI infrastructure become increasingly electrified, demand for more efficient power electronics continues to grow. Every improvement in semiconductor efficiency can reduce energy losses, cooling requirements and operating costs across systems measured not in watts, but in megawatts.
The companies shaping that future may not be the ones producing the finished chips.
They may instead be the organisationsmastering the materials from which those chips—and the power systems surrounding them—are ultimately made.
If that proves to be the case, Europe's next opportunity in semiconductors may begin well before the fabrication plant. It may begin with companies such as NextGO Epi attempting to establish expertise in materials that, for now, remain largely invisible outside a small community of semiconductor researchers—but which could one day underpin the next generation of power electronics.
Further reading on MoveTheNeedle.news:
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