Vertical Semiconductor

Vertical Semiconductor is accelerating the development of vertical GaN (gallium nitride) transistors, working on one of the most pressing issues in modern AI data centers: getting power to them quickly and efficiently.

The surge of AI workloads is straining data centers, and power delivery has become the critical bottleneck. The company’s vertical GaN transistors ease that bottleneck by pushing energy conversion closer to the chip with less power loss and heat, which is critical for powering the future of compute. This breakthrough reduces energy loss, cuts heat, and simplifies infrastructure, improving efficiency by up to 30% and enabling a 50% smaller power footprint in AI data center racks.

Built on a decade of research at MIT’s Palacios Group – a world-leading gallium nitride (GaN) research lab, Vertical’s breakthrough transistors use GaN, a material that makes power systems more efficient and power dense than silicon. When combined with a novel vertical architecture, it makes it easier, faster and more efficient to get power from the source to the chip.

Vertical Semiconductor has demonstrated the technology on 8-inch wafers using standard silicon CMOS semiconductor manufacturing methods, enabling seamless integration with existing process technology and making it ready for real-world deployment for devices from 100 volts to 1.2kV.

Founded in 2024 by Cynthia Liao, CEO & Co-Founder, Dr. Joshua Perozek, CTO & Co-Founder, and Prof. Tomas Palacios, Advisor & Co-Founder, Vertical Semiconductor expects to start testing early prototypes by the end of 2025 and have a fully integrated solution by 2026.

In October 2025, JIMCO’s Technology Fund participated in the US$ 11 million Seed funding round alongside a collection of international investors, aligned with JIMCO’s mission to bring cutting edge technology to everyday lives.

The startup’s path is a good example of a larger trend in the industry toward wide-bandgap semiconductors that are optimized for vertical architectures. This will not only lead to small improvements, but also a complete rethinking of how power is delivered in AI, EVs, and the grid. Vertical GaN could become the backbone of next-generation power electronics as research continues, and commercial milestones get closer.