[Market Focus] Iron Device Surges on Completion of High-Performance Gate Driver 100 Times Faster Than Silicon Devices

Iron Device is showing strong performance. This is believed to be influenced by news that the company has developed a gallium nitride (GaN) gate driver that is approximately 100 times faster than silicon (Si) devices.

As of 9:39 a.m. on May 22, Iron Device is trading at 3,450 won, up 10.22% from the previous day.

According to industry sources, on this day Iron Device announced that it had developed the high-performance gate driver IC 'SMA6533,' specialized for driving GaN (gallium nitride) power devices.

The company explained that GaN (gallium nitride) power devices offer approximately 100 times faster switching speed, superior power efficiency, and higher durability compared to conventional silicon (Si) devices. As a result, demand is surging in high-performance sectors such as autonomous vehicles, robotics, data centers, and high-power audio. In particular, the sub-100V GaN market is rapidly growing, centered on high-performance applications.

The newly released SMA6533 is optimized for GaN-based systems that require high-speed and high-precision control. Iron Device emphasized, "The propagation delay time is about 20ns, and the delay time variation is within ±2ns, enabling highly precise signal transmission," adding, "A key feature is the built-in precision control function at the nanosecond level, which is difficult to implement digitally with MPU or AP-level devices."

Currently, the GaN gate driver market is led by a few global companies, such as Texas Instruments in the United States and Infineon Technologies in Germany. In Korea, Iron Device is the sole supplier. As a fabless company specializing in mixed-signal semiconductors, Iron Device plans to expand its technological leadership by entering various next-generation industries based on the SMA6533.