IN Brief:
- Prohubs will provide customer engagement, design-in, distribution, and commercialisation support for Pakal's IGTO technology.
- Pakal is developing silicon power devices across several voltage classes while separately working with Hitachi Energy on ≥3.3kV modules.
- The architecture is intended to improve silicon power conversion efficiency while remaining compatible with established module approaches.
Pakal Technologies has appointed Prohubs to support customer engagement, design-in, distribution, and commercialisation of its IGTO silicon power semiconductor technology as the company attempts to move the architecture from development programmes into a broader range of power conversion systems.
The agreement combines Pakal’s device technology with Prohubs’ market development experience and established presence in Taiwan. Prohubs will work with prospective customers during adoption rather than operating solely as a conventional component distributor.
Pakal’s insulated-gate turn-off thyristor, or IGTO, is a silicon power switch intended to reduce losses while retaining compatibility with established silicon power-module approaches. The company positions the technology as an alternative route for applications where manufacturers want higher efficiency without making a complete transition to silicon carbide or gallium nitride.
That distinction gives the architecture a particular commercial problem to solve. Wide bandgap devices have established performance advantages in many higher-frequency and higher-voltage applications, but changing semiconductor technology can affect gate drive, switching frequency, magnetic components, thermal design, packaging, insulation, qualification, and cost.
An improved silicon device can therefore be attractive where a manufacturer wants to retain more of an existing converter architecture. The benefit depends on whether lower losses can be achieved without introducing new complexity elsewhere in the system.
Pakal says the IGTO provides greater efficiency and reliability than established thyristor and IGBT architectures. The newest Prohubs agreement is primarily a commercialisation step, so it does not add an independent performance benchmark to those claims. Earlier work with Hitachi Energy provides a more specific technical reference.
In February, Hitachi Energy announced plans to incorporate Pakal’s IGTO into high-voltage power modules rated at 3.3kV and above. Hitachi Energy said the device produced 30% lower conduction losses at high current and temperature than conventional IGBT technology while remaining compatible with existing module architectures.
That programme targets applications including rail, renewable energy, energy storage, AI infrastructure, and data centres. At those voltage and power levels, reduced conduction loss can translate into lower heat generation, smaller cooling systems, higher power density, or some combination of the three.
The Prohubs relationship addresses the next stage of adoption. New power switches have to reach design engineers with enough characterisation data, application support, evaluation hardware, and supply information to survive comparison with established alternatives. Distribution alone does little if a customer cannot model switching behaviour, calculate losses, design the gate drive, or understand the safe operating area.
Qualification is particularly demanding in industrial power electronics because semiconductor replacement can affect the reliability case for the complete converter. Engineers may require switching curves, thermal impedance data, short-circuit behaviour, surge performance, lifetime information, package details, gate-drive recommendations, and application test results before approving a new device.
Taiwan gives Prohubs access to a dense base of electronics manufacturers and power conversion suppliers, but local commercial support only matters if it is backed by engineering access. Pakal will still need to provide samples, design data, failure analysis, and predictable delivery while the technology moves through customer evaluation.
Manufacturing scale is another consideration. Pakal is a fabless semiconductor company and argues that using silicon allows the IGTO to build on an established manufacturing ecosystem. That can reduce some materials and process barriers associated with newer semiconductor technologies, but customers will still expect clarity on foundry capacity, package availability, qualification status, and long-term continuity.
The Hitachi Energy collaboration provides evidence that the architecture has progressed beyond laboratory demonstration at the high-voltage end. The Prohubs agreement now tests whether the technology can attract a broader customer base across industrial power, renewable conversion, storage, grid equipment, and mobility applications.
Commercial success will depend less on the breadth of those target markets than on the performance data available to individual design teams. A new semiconductor succeeds when engineers can replace an incumbent device, complete qualification, and show measurable system benefit without creating unacceptable cost or reliability risk elsewhere in the converter.
The partnership therefore marks a shift from proving the device towards proving its usefulness in customer designs. If IGTO can retain the familiarity of silicon module architectures while delivering a meaningful reduction in loss, the commercial opportunity lies in converters where efficiency needs to improve but a complete platform redesign remains difficult to justify.
