Alex Lidow, CEO and co-founder of Efficient Power Conversion (EPC), talked with Ally Winning, Editor at Power Systems Design, about EPC's strategic agreement with Renesas in a recent interview. The interview looked at why the deal was made, how important it is to have a second source, and how certain eGaN devices help set de facto standards in the low-voltage GaN market.

Ally Winning, Editor at Power Systems Design

Expanding Reach and Strengthening the GaN Ecosystem

While financial benefits are an obvious outcome of EPC’s agreement with Renesas, Alex Lidow was clear that the true value lies in scale and reach. EPC remains a highly focused GaN specialist with a lean global presence, whereas Renesas brings hundreds of sales and applications engineers worldwide, along with deep customer relationships across industrial, automotive, consumer, and computing markets.

By leveraging Renesas’ global sales, applications, and support infrastructure, EPC gains access to regions and customers it could not efficiently reach on its own. This is particularly relevant in markets such as Japan and China, where Renesas has a long-established presence and strong customer relationships.

Beyond reach, the partnership addresses a critical customer requirement: second sourcing. “Customers ask for a second source, they want a second source, and so now they have a second source,” Lidow said.

Lidow sees the agreement as additive. EPC can either sell directly into new opportunities opened by Renesas or benefit through royalties - both outcomes representing growth EPC could not achieve independently.

Renesas’ strength also lies in system-level enablement. Its portfolio of microcontrollers, power management ICs, and analog devices allows EPC’s GaN transistors to be positioned not just as discrete components, but as part of optimized, referenceable system solutions. This capability accelerates GaN adoption beyond early adopters and into mainstream designs:

“They are very well positioned to expand our global reach. They also have tremendous technical capabilities, and so I think it’s quite a benefit for us,” Lidow said.

Footprint and Specification Standards as a Market Enabler

A key objective of the collaboration is to drive de facto standards in low-voltage GaN, particularly around package footprints and specifications. While EPC widely uses PQFN packages, incompatibilities across suppliers undermine the concept of true second sourcing.

“If you have a 2 milliohm part and your competitor comes out with a 2.2 milliohm part that’s in a slightly different footprint, customers get annoyed. That’s not really a second source,” commented Lidow.

Differences in pinouts and electrical performance between vendors - whether from established players or newer GaN entrants - create friction for system designers. This limits interchangeability and slows adoption, especially in high-volume applications.

“We need to have our technology and our form factors becoming de facto the standard, ” Lidow said.

With Renesas backing EPC’s low-voltage GaN devices, the combination of common footprints, aligned specifications, and integrated IC support strengthens confidence for OEMs and system designers. Renesas’ broader GaN portfolio - enhanced by its acquisition of Transphorm for high-voltage GaN - positions the company uniquely across voltage classes.

“Including low-voltage GaN in their portfolio makes them pretty unique - and I think they’re right,” said Lidow.

Together, EPC and Renesas aim not just to ship more GaN devices, but to reduce adoption barriers by standardizing how low-voltage GaN is designed, sourced, and deployed across the industry.

Maurizio Di Paolo Emilio, Director of Global Marketing Communications at EPC