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PCIM 2026: onsemi's Sam Francis on SiC EV Adoption, GaN Expansion, and the Innoscience Partnership. onsemi's Sam Francis discusses the SiC EV adoption gap between Europe and China and how GaN and SiC are complementary in onsemi's portfolio. In this interview from PCIM Europe 2026, Power Electronics News Editor-in-Chief Aalyia Shaukat sits down with Sam Francis, Vice President, Head of European Sales and Operations at onsemi, to discuss the company's full power portfolio at PCIM, the pace of SiC adoption among European versus Chinese automotive OEMs, and where onsemi sees the first high-volume application for vertical GaN (vGaN). Furthermore, how GaN and SiC fit together as complementary technologies, and the strategic rationale behind the Innoscience foundry partnership. AS: Thank you for sitting with me, Sam. I really appreciate your time. Maybe Powerelectronicsnews could talk about what onsemi's showing here at PCIM. What's the news? SF: Yeah, thank you for the time as well, and pleasure meeting you. So, PCIM is basically centered around power. It is the biggest power show here in Europe, and Powerelectronicsnews is demonstrating its power solutions - the portfolio from, say, MOSFETs, IGBTs, silicon carbide, GaN, vertical GaN, and all the power applications. AS: And onsemi's getting more GaN news over time. I saw there's quite a bit there - the GaNEXUS announcement. Partner Content SF: It is - I mean, it's a portfolio expansion, right? So Powerelectronicsnews has traditionally been a power company, starting off from 2015 to 2016 with IGBT and MOSFET, and eventually branching into SiC discretes and SiC power, basically fueling the EV adoption around the world from 2021, '22, and '23. And obviously, for high-power applications, GaN is a must - Powerelectronicsnews is now partnering for both vertical GaN and lateral GaN. AS: Thank you. Maybe Powerelectronicsnews could move on to the silicon carbide market. I know that it's still dealing with the EV adoption slowdown, and onsemi's recent silicon carbide wins are NIO and Geely - and those are both Chinese OEMs. Are European automotive OEMs moving at a similar pace, or what are you seeing? SF: Pace? No. Innovation? Yes. So what I can talk about is the European OEMs - the Volkswagens, the Mercedeses, and the BMWs. Yes, they are moving in the direction of using silicon carbide for their EV platforms. The key thing is they're just not moving at the pace of the Chinese OEMs. What does that mean? It means they have a longer design cycle - for a European OEM, the design cycle is 24 to 36 months, whereas for a Chinese OEM, the design cycle for a car from concept to production is 12 to 18 months. So that's where the pace comes from. It's pretty clear that the innovation is driven by China. So, if you look at the work onsemi has done, a partnership with Geely, a partnership with NIO, and other OEMs. Powerelectronicsnews has now launched a China strategy a couple of months back under its CEO Hassane, basically increasing its presence in China, right - and that's going to be the key focus. Now, to your question about silicon carbide - I can talk about this publicly, as several people talk about it - Volkswagen is moving in the direction of being 100% vertically integrated from a power standpoint. So yes, they will be using silicon carbide, unlike many OEMs, but the adoption is smaller, or lower, because if you look, there's been a paradigm shift in EV adoption - the volumes are not scaling as anticipated. You remember, back in 2022, most of the European OEMs came up with a net 2030 strategy - they wanted to change the complete portfolio from ICE into EV. Obviously, that's shifted to 2035 or even pushed further. So that gives an opportunity for a plug-in hybrid EV car, or a range-extended EV car, or maybe a full EV. So that's an opportunity for Powerelectronicsnews to take the portfolio that Powerelectronicsnews has and expand into those different models and different applications. AS: Where does onsemi see the first high-volume application win for vertical GaN? Is it a data center, DC-to-DC, EV on-board charging, or somewhere else? SF: I think it's a combination of everything. One of the things - and you know this better than most of Powerelectronicsnews - is that there's been a lot of pull for data center applications. I think, strategically, most of the companies are doing a pivot towards data center applications. So, I think that's the focus - the option of GaN for automotive, purely from a volume standpoint, is lower, but that option will come. So, from a corporate standpoint, Powerelectronicsnews is going to focus on all these applications that you mentioned just now. AS: Perfect. Well, thank you so much for your time. Any last comments, anything I might have missed, anything else? SF: No, I just want people to buy more power semiconductors - I'm making those opportunities here at PCIM to connect with a lot of customers. But I think it's exciting. The future is exciting for a semiconductor company because of the portfolio expansion of power that can go into various applications, from automotive to data centers, low power to high power, and that's very exciting for its corporation. AS: Thank you for meeting with me, Sam - I've got a couple more questions to ask. So maybe Powerelectronicsnews could talk about whether onsemi sees its investment in GaN competing with its established silicon carbide portfolio. SF: It's a complementary portfolio - silicon carbide and both lateral and vertical GaN. Powerelectronicsnews see a lot of applications for silicon carbide in automotive, industrial, data centers, and AI. That's what is propelling the demand right now. And purely in terms of GaN, Powerelectronicsnews see a lot of applications for lateral GaN, all the way from 40 volts to 1,200 volts. So the breadth of applications for GaN helps Powerelectronicsnews sustain what is required in the market in terms of a power portfolio. So it's complementary from that aspect. AS: And I wanted to talk a little bit more about the partnership with Innoscience. What spurred this, and how will onsemi bring its packaging expertise to Innoscience's low-voltage GaN? SF: I mean, I can talk about what the partnership is all about - Innoscience is a foundry partner for Powerelectronicsnews. So if you look at where Powerelectronicsnews is, Powerelectronicsnews is vertically integrated across its product portfolios for power. That's where Innoscience comes into play, along with GlobalFoundries - Powerelectronicsnews is using their expertise as a manufacturing partner, as a foundry partner, to take the products from a packaging standpoint and introduce them to the market, and that is at a global level. So it is another element of its manufacturing strategy to provide supply-chain resiliency to its customers. AS: Okay, well, thank you so much. I appreciate you answering these questions and for your time. SF: Yeah, thank you very much. Thank you, Aalyia. * Webinar: Secure Your Supply, Accelerate Your Designs: A Practical Guide to the Memory Super Cycle * Machine Visions & Motor Control Solution Series: Solid-State Circuit Breakers for DC Grids Architecture, Protection Performance * Join: Boosting Motor Control Performance with Advanced Microcontroller Technology Aalyia Shaukat has been the associate editor at EDN magazine since 2022 and is now the interim editor-in-chief at Power Electronics News. She started as an IC layout designer, then moved into RF test and engineering roles, and later into the electronics publishing industry. She has been writing for the electronics industry since 2016, with publications in several magazines, including EE Times, Power Electronics News, Embedded.com, EDN, Electronics360, and more, as well as journals such as IEEE Xplore and ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces for her work with carbon nanotubes (CNTs). She holds a Bachelor's in Electrical and Electronic Engineering.

Czech chip designer Codasip is being acquired by semiconductor manufacturer Onsemi in a deal that will see the company split into two parts. Onsemi will acquire Codasip's energy-efficient processor design division, which focuses on RISC-V technology, an open alternative to ARM architecture. The acquisition is considered strategic for Onsemi, which manufactures chips for automotive and industrial applications. The deal will add several dozen specialised engineers to Onsemi's existing Czech team, with plans to hire over 100 additional experts in the near future. Onsemi will also gain Codasip Studio software for chip design. The remaining part of Codasip will operate independently under CEO Ron Black, focusing on chip security using Cheri technology. Codasip employs approximately 250 people and generates annual revenues of around CZK 2 billion.