JICN Invests JPY 30 Million in AZNICS to Support Digital Gate Driver IC Technology

Japan Green Investment Corp. for Carbon Neutrality (JICN) has decided to provide JPY 30 million in support for AZNICS Inc.’s fundraising and has completed the investment. Going forward, JICN plans to monitor AZNICS’ business activities and confirm the company’s initiatives toward reducing greenhouse gas emissions. AZNICS, headquartered in Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, was established on January 27, 2023, and is led by Representative Director Toshinari Furusawa. The company develops and sells integrated circuits, including digital gate driver ICs, for controlling power semiconductors. AZNICS is a startup established by Advanced Technology Acceleration Corporation (ATAC) to bring digital gate driver technology developed at Professor Makoto Takamiya’s laboratory at the University of Tokyo’s Institute of Industrial Science into practical use. AZNICS aims to provide digital gate drivers mainly to power electronics manufacturers. Its technology enables customers to freely select power semiconductors from the perspectives of performance and cost, while suppressing heat and noise, accelerating switching, and maximizing power semiconductor performance within short development cycles. Power semiconductors are devices that perform various forms of power conversion by rapidly switching high voltage and high current on and off. They are widely used in applications essential to carbon neutrality, including renewable energy generation equipment, electric vehicles, home appliances, data centers, and other products closely tied to daily life. Commercialization of next-generation power semiconductors such as SiC and GaN has also been progressing in recent years. AZNICS’ digital gate driver integrated circuit design technology can generate a variety of gate waveforms on a single chip instead of relying on a single waveform. This allows the optimal gate waveform to be generated for each product. The company has demonstrated on actual equipment that the technology can reduce approximately 50% of energy losses in power semiconductors, contributing to energy savings. Through the social implementation of AZNICS’ technology, the company is expected to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions by improving energy losses in power semiconductors, which are essential devices for achieving carbon neutrality. From the perspective of creating a virtuous cycle between the economy and the environment, technologies that improve power semiconductor efficiency through digital gate drivers have not yet been commercialized and are expected to contribute to the spread of new technologies and business models. Adoption by globally expanding electronics manufacturers is also expected to support the overseas expansion of Japanese-origin technology. JICN stated that it will continue working with various stakeholders to provide funding to a wide range of decarbonization-related businesses, disseminate and develop expertise, information, and human resources, and connect ideas and technologies from diverse actors to help build a prosperous and sustainable future.