(Yicai) April 1 -- Chinese chipmaker Innoscience Technology Holding is joining forces with European semiconductor contract manufacturing and design company STMicroelectronics to share gallium nitride wafer production facilities in their respective regions to bolster their manufacturing capabilities and expand their global networks. 

Innoscience will leverage STMicroelectronics' production capacity outside of China to manufacture its GaN wafers, according to the agreement penned by the two parties. In return, STMicroelectronics, which is incorporated in the Netherlands but based in Plan-les-Ouates, Switzerland, will use Innoscience's manufacturing capacity in China to produce its own GaN wafers.

The aim of this tie-up is to build a flexible supply chain that will help both companies expand their GaN product lines and market reach, while also strengthening the resilience of their supply chains, it added.

The two companies will also link arms in the coming years to promote the application of GaN power technology in the fields of consumer electronics, data centers, automotives and industrial power systems, it said.

Innoscience was the first company in the world to mass-produce 8-inch silicon-based GaN wafers. The Suzhou-based firm is also the only company globally capable of providing a full voltage spectrum of silicon-based GaN semiconductors on an industrial scale. As of the end of last year, Innoscience had an output of 13,000 wafers per month.

Innoscience’s net losses narrowed 5 percent in 2024 from the year before to CNY1 billion (USD140 million), while revenue jumped 39.8 percent to CNY828 million (USD110 million), according to its annual report released on March 28.

Innoscience’s share price [HKG: 2577] climbed 0.7 percent today to HKD43.15 (USD5.54).

Editor: Kim Taylor