European semiconductor independence has been a hot topic recently, and European Union lawmakers, particularly the European Commission, have passed the Chips Act 2.0 to achieve semiconductor manufacturing independence from the rest of the world. Now, only a week after the law has been passed, a German startup has raised capital to work on power semiconductors for next-generation electric vehicles. NexiGO, a Berlin-based startup, aims to focus on Gallium Oxide (Ga₂O₃) to power most of the power electronics needed across Europe. Starting with a €2 million pre-seed funding round, NexiGO plans to tackle the challenge of charging electric vehicles. The company intends to allow much higher voltage band gaps and enable vehicle charging to occur in just 10 minutes, significantly less time than the current 60-minute average achieved with Silicon Carbide or Gallium Nitride.

Interestingly, NexiGO will produce Gallium Oxide semiconductors on epitaxial wafers that are up to 4 inches in size, which is a third of the size of traditional logic and memory wafers made in the 12-inch format. The company has likely assessed that this size is sufficient to manufacture Gallium Oxide at a scale that satisfies domestic electricity transmission needs. For example, charging stations require an ultra-wide bandgap semiconductor to handle massive power surges with little to no loss. Standard semiconductors can't sustain the large voltage, while Gallium Oxide has a bandgap of roughly 4.8 eV, allowing for much lower energy loss in power transmission.