Transphorm Inc of Goleta, near Santa Barbara, CA, USA (which designs and delivers power conversion devices and modules) says that Fumihide ‘Humi’ Esaka will join the firm as its new CEO, starting 1 July. Transphorm reckons that Esaka will play a pivotal role in its expansion in providing gallium nitride (GaN)-based power conversion in power supplies and adapters, motor drives, solar panels, and electric vehicles.
Esaka is currently CEO of Tokyo Stock Exchange-listed firm Nihon Inter Electronics Corp (NIEC), and is also former VP - Japan sales of NYSE-listed power semiconductor device maker International Rectifier Corp (IR) of El Segundo, CA, USA. He has leadership experience in both US and international businesses and markets, having contributed to IR’s significant revenue expansion in Asia, and revitalizing NIEC, a Japanese-based power solutions manufacturer with more than $300m in revenues.
“When launching in 2007, we started with a breakthrough technology and ambitions to redefine energy efficiency,” says Transphorm’s co-founder & CEO Umesh Mishra. “Since then, we’ve eliminated every daunting technical obstacle that’s stood in our way and just released the world’s first qualified GaN-on-silicon product,” he adds. “I’m proud to hand over the reins to someone as accomplished as Humi, and continue to work with him and Primit Parikh (co-founder & president) in my capacity as chairman and chief technology officer to help make GaN the industry standard in electric power conversion,” Mishra concludes.
“Transphorm has assembled the most impressive GaN technical and engineering talent on the planet and produced solutions that satisfy customer demands for better form factor and efficiency,” believes Esaka. “The mission is meaningful: use Transphorm’s technology to cut total world electrical energy waste by more than 50%,” he adds.
“After solving technical problems that have confounded the industry to qualify the world’s most energy efficient power conversion products, Transphorm is ready to move its business to another level,” says Randy Komisar, general partner at investor Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.
Transphorm says that its power conversion solutions, through its proprietary EZ-GaN platform, reduce power system size, increase energy density and deliver high efficiencies across the grid, providing a cost-effective, customizable and easy-to-use solution ready for commercial scale.