FREIBERGER COMPOUND MATERIALS GMBH

Their core work

Freiberger Compound Materials (FCM) is a German manufacturer of compound semiconductor substrates — the foundational wafer materials on which advanced power electronics are built. In H2020 projects, they contributed their substrate expertise specifically to Gallium Nitride (GaN) power semiconductor development, supporting both the material science and the pilot-line fabrication processes needed to bring GaN devices from lab to industrial scale. Their role in consortia is to supply and develop the base materials that enable next-generation power conversion components used in electric vehicles, motor drives, and solar inverters. FCM sits at the upstream end of the semiconductor value chain: they do not make the final chips, but the performance of those chips depends directly on the quality of the substrates they produce.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

In their first project (PowerBase, 2015–2018), FCM's contribution was primarily material-science and infrastructure focused: developing the substrate base materials and establishing pilot-line processes for GaN semiconductor fabrication, with compactness as the key application driver. By the time GaN4AP launched (2021–2025), the language shifted decisively toward end-use performance — robustness, energy efficiency, system reliability — and into specific application markets like automotive on-board chargers, motor drives, and solar inverters. This reflects a broader industry maturation: GaN substrates are no longer an open research question but a component being validated in demanding real-world environments, and FCM has followed that curve from foundational material work toward application-qualified supply.

FCM is moving deeper into the automotive and industrial power electronics supply chain, suggesting future collaboration opportunities will center on qualifying GaN substrates for high-reliability, high-efficiency applications such as EV drivetrains and grid-connected inverters.

How they like to work

FCM participates exclusively as a consortium partner — they have never coordinated an H2020 project — which is typical of industrial material suppliers who bring highly specific input rather than managing project-wide strategy. With 80 unique partners from 12 countries across just two projects, they clearly operate in large, multi-stakeholder Innovation Actions where many industrial and research actors collaborate along a full value chain. This suggests that working with FCM means engaging them as a focused upstream contributor: they deliver substrate expertise and materials, while project management and application integration are handled by others.

FCM has built a broad European network of 80 unique partners across 12 countries from only two projects, indicating participation in large, diverse consortia rather than tight bilateral partnerships. Their network spans the GaN semiconductor ecosystem — likely including chip manufacturers, packaging specialists, equipment providers, and end-market integrators in the automotive and energy sectors.

What sets them apart

FCM occupies a rare position in EU research consortia as an industrial compound semiconductor substrate manufacturer willing to engage directly in collaborative R&D — most wafer producers operate strictly as commercial suppliers outside the project ecosystem. Their Freiberg location places them within Germany's established semiconductor materials cluster, with deep manufacturing know-how that academic or fabless partners cannot replicate. For a consortium building a GaN power electronics project, FCM offers something few others can: actual production-grade substrate supply combined with the institutional knowledge of a company that has spent a decade qualifying GaN materials for industrial use.

Highlights from their portfolio

• GaN4AP
  The largest of FCM's two funded projects (EUR 252,960, running to 2025), it targets multiple high-value markets simultaneously — automotive on-board charging, industrial motor drives, and photovoltaic inverters — making it the clearest signal of where GaN substrate technology is headed commercially.
• PowerBase
  FCM's entry into EU collaborative research, this project established the GaN pilot-line infrastructure that underpins all subsequent work, making it the foundational project in their H2020 trajectory.