Allegro MicroSystems recently announced the entry into an agreement to acquire Heyday Integrated Circuits (Heyday). Heyday is a privately-held company specializing in compact, fully-integrated isolated gate drivers that enable energy conversion in high-voltage gallium nitride (GaN) and silicon carbide (SiC) wide-bandgap (WBG) semiconductor designs. The Heyday acquisition will complement Allegro’s existing solutions for energy efficiency, including its market-leading current sensor solutions. Additionally, it is expected to significantly expand Allegro’s addressable market for electric vehicles (xEV), solar inverters, datacenter and 5G power supplies, and broad-market industrial applications.
Heyday’s expertise in cutting-edge gate drive solutions provide system designers with new, innovative ways to fully leverage the potential of high-efficiency WBG switches. According to industry analysts and internal estimates, these advanced gate drive solutions give Allegro new access to an estimated $2.7 billion high-growth serviceable available market, increasing Allegro’s content opportunity in green energy applications such as xEV on-board chargers and solar and traction inverters.
“With high-powered GaN and SiC wide bandgap systems expected to grow significantly over the next decade, our customers are facing an exponential demand for simplified power management solutions,” said Michael Doogue, Senior Vice President of Technology and Products at Allegro. “High-voltage isolated gate drivers are a fundamental enabling technology for the future of high-efficiency power system designs. Coupled with our market-leading integrated current sensors, Heyday’s Power-ThruTM technology will allow our customers to build some of the smallest high-voltage and high efficiency power systems available today.”
GaN and SiC power devices are expected to rapidly gain market share in electric vehicle and green energy applications. Traditional gate driver solutions often require large system footprints and additional components, such as bulky transformers or filters, separate PCBs, and connectors, to achieve EMC compliance and meet safety regulations. Heyday’s isolated gate driver solutions use a single, small-footprint package that integrates an isolated gate driver, an isolated power supply, and associated passive components. This significantly reduces system design time and complexity and makes it possible for designers to take advantage of the full efficiency benefits that WBG switches provide. Additionally, the reduced system design time and complexity help alleviate the need for additional engineering and design resources.
"We look forward to welcoming Heyday's talented and innovative team to the Allegro family," said Vijay Mangtani, Vice President of Power ICs at Allegro. "When completed, this acquisition will greatly accelerate our efforts to deliver a market-leading energy efficient technology platform for high voltage designs in green energy, advanced mobility, and motion control solutions."
Allegro will pay approximately $19 million in cash for the acquisition of Heyday, subject to customary purchase price adjustments. The acquisition is expected to close in the third quarter of calendar year 2022, subject to customary closing conditions and required regulatory approvals.
