Seektronics

European chipmaker Infineon is betting on next-generation power semiconductors - used in everything from ultra-high-speed cell phone chargers to electric vehicles - to spur growth in a sluggish broader chip market.   Power semiconductors are part of power management systems that can withstand high voltages and currents. Infineon is targeting advanced materials that are expected to have higher capacity and efficiency than traditional silicon-based power chips.   Adam White, the company's president for power and sensor systems, told Nikkei Asia that Infineon is particularly bullish on gallium nitride (GaN) chips. "Our goal is to be the [chip industry] leader in power systems," White said. "We see the tipping point for GaN happening in real time."   The company predicts that the market for GaN chips will grow at a rate of 56 percent per year through 2027.   Infineon recently disclosed an $830 million deal to acquire Ottawa chip designer GaN Systems to expand its pr

  On November 8, 1923, a baby boy was born to an ordinary family in Jefferson City, Missouri, USA.   The baby boy's father was Hubert Kilby, an electrical engineer who graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The baby boy's mother, Vina Kilby, also graduated from this school.   The young couple probably did not expect that the little life they welcomed would become a great engineer, inventor, and even a Nobel Prize winner. His contribution to invention would create a huge industry that would change the whole world.   This baby boy is Jack St. Clair Kilby, one of the leading inventors of the integrated circuit and known as the "father of the chip.   An engineer's journey   In 1927, when Kilby was four years old, the family moved to Salina, Kansas.   Kilby's father, Herbert Kilby, was the manager of the Kansas Power Company. At the time, Kilby often toured the power plant with his father, watching the generation and transmission equipment. Over