SEOUL, South Korea--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan 20, 2026--
Magnachip Semiconductor Corporation (NYSE: MX, “Magnachip”) today announced the launch of its new series of Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistors (IGBTs) designed for solar inverters and industrial Energy Storage Systems (ESS), further strengthening its position in the high-efficiency power semiconductor market.
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The newly introduced 650V and 1200V new Generation Discrete IGBT products are designed for use in solar inverters and ESS applications. By significantly reducing the cell pitch from the previous generation, Magnachip has achieved a substantial increase in current capacity. In addition, the improved Reverse Bias Safe Operating Area (RBSOA) helps to ensure stable and reliable performance under harsh high-voltage and high-current conditions. The products are available in both standard TO-247 and high-capacity TO-247 Plus packages, providing customers with design flexibility for a wide range of applications.
According to market research firm Omdia, the global solar inverter and ESS market is expected to grow from approximately $1.4 billion in 2024 to $2.7 billion in 2029, representing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of approximately 10.6%. With global carbon-neutrality initiatives accelerating, energy efficiency and high power density have become key performance metrics in inverter design.
Magnachip already supplies IGBT products to major domestic and international solar inverter manufacturers, earning recognition for high product quality and advanced technology. With this new product launch, the company is expanding its portfolio to cover a wide capacity range — from residential inverters to industrial systems up to 150 kW — allowing customers to select suitable products for their operating environment.
The new generation IGBTs leverage Advanced Field Stop Trench technology, with enhanced design and refined process technology compared to the previous generation. Specifically, the cell pitch has been reduced by approximately 40%, significantly increasing current capacity within the same die area. Furthermore, RBSOA, which defines the semiconductor's safe operating limits, has been enhanced by over 30%, ensuring robust stability under high-voltage and high-current conditions. This makes it suitable for a wider range of power applications.
Magnachip plans to further expand its product lineup in the first half of 2026 by introducing a high-current series rated up to 650V 150A, as well as new 750V products. The company also plans to add the ‘TO-247-4Lead’ package, featuring a Kelvin pin for improved switching efficiency, further enhancing its IGBT lineup. This will enable Magnachip to offer a broader range of design options for customers in the solar and ESS markets, which are trending toward higher capacity and efficiency.
"This new generation IGBT series enhances efficiency and reliability through refined process technologies," said Hyuk Woo, CTO of Magnachip. "Building on our market-proven technology and production capabilities, we will continue to expand our solution lineup to better address diverse customer needs."
Related Links
Power Solutions > Discrete IGBTs > 650V
Power Solutions > Discrete IGBTs > 1200V
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About Magnachip Semiconductor
Magnachip is a designer and manufacturer of analog and mixed-signal power semiconductor platform solutions for various applications, including industrial, automotive, communication, consumer and computing. The Company provides a broad range of standard products to customers worldwide. Magnachip, with about 45 years of operating history, owns a portfolio of approximately 1,000 registered patents and pending applications, and has extensive engineering, design and manufacturing process expertise. For more information, please visit www.magnachip.com. Information on or accessible through Magnachip’s website is not a part of, and is not incorporated into, this release.
Magnachip targets solar and energy storage systems markets with new generation of high-efficiency Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistors (IGBTs).
DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) — The European Union’s top official on Tuesday described U.S. President Donald Trump’s planned new tariffs over Greenland as “a mistake especially between long-standing allies" and called into question Trump's trustworthiness, saying that he had agreed last year not to impose more tariffs on members of the bloc.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen was responding to Trump's announcement that starting February, a 10% import tax will be imposed on goods from eight European nations that have rallied around Denmark in the wake of his stepped up calls for the United States to take over the semi-autonomous Danish territory of Greenland.
“The European Union and the United States have agreed to a trade deal last July," Von der Leyen said at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. “And in politics as in business – a deal is a deal. And when friends shake hands, it must mean something.”
"We consider the people of the United States not just our allies, but our friends. And plunging us into a downward spiral would only aid the very adversaries we are both so committed to keeping out of the strategic landscape,” she added.
She vowed that the EU’s response “will be unflinching, united and proportional.”
Trump has insisted the U.S. needs the territory for security reasons against possible threats from China and Russia.
Earlier Tuesday, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said America’s relations with Europe remain strong and urged trading partners to “take a deep breath” and let tensions driven the new tariff threats over Greenland “play out.”
“I think our relations have never been closer,” he said.
The American leader’s threats have sparked outrage and a flurry of diplomatic activity across Europe, as leaders consider possible countermeasures, including retaliatory tariffs and the first-ever use of the European Union’s anti-coercion instrument.
The EU has three major economic tools it could use to pressure Washington: new tariffs, suspension of the U.S.-EU trade deal, and the “trade bazooka” — the unofficial term for the bloc’s Anti-Coercion Instrument, which could sanction individuals or institutions found to be putting undue pressure on the EU.
Earlier Tuesday, Trump posted on social media that he had spoken with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte. He said "I agreed to a meeting of the various parties in Davos, Switzerland,” which is hosting the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting this week.
Trump also posted a text message from Emmanuel Macron in which the French president suggested a meeting of members of the Group of Seven industrialized democracies in Paris after the Davos gathering.
An official close to French President Macron confirmed the message shared by Trump is genuine. “It shows that the French President, both in public and in private, takes the same views,” the official said.
On Greenland, France considers respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of states is “non-negotiable,” the official said. Macron's offer to organize a G7 meeting showed the French presidency wants to make “a constructive moment that contributes to dialogue and cooperation,” the official added.
The official spoke anonymously in line with the French presidency customary practices.
Later, Trump posted some provocatively doctored images. One showed him planting the U.S. flag next to a sign reading “Greenland, U.S. Territory, Est. 2026.” The other showed Trump in the Oval Office next to a map that showed Greenland and Canada covered with the U.S. Stars and Stripes.
In a sign of how tensions have increased in recent days, thousands of Greenlanders marched over the weekend in protest of any effort to take over their island. Greenland Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen said in a Facebook post Monday that the tariff threats would not change their stance.
“We will not be pressured,” he wrote.
In his latest threat of tariffs, Trump indicated that the import taxes would be retaliation for last week’s deployment of symbolic numbers of troops from the European countries to Greenland — though he also suggested that he was using the tariffs as leverage to negotiate with Denmark.
Denmark's minister for European affairs called Trump's tariff threats “deeply unfair." He said that Europe needs to become even stronger and more independent, while stressing there is "no interest in escalating a trade war."
"You just have to note that we are on the edge of a new world order, where having power has unfortunately become crucial, and we see a United States with an enormous condescending rhetoric towards Europe,” Marie Bjerre told Danish public broadcaster DK on Tuesday.
Speaking on the sidelines of Davos, California Gov. Gavin Newsom slammed Europe’s response to Trump's tariff threats as “pathetic” and “embarrassing,” and urged European leaders to unite and stand up to the United States.
“It is time to get serious, and stop being complicit,” Newsom told reporters. “It’s time to stand tall and firm, have a backbone.”
On Monday night, Greenland’s European backers were looking at establishing a more permanent military presence in the High North to help guarantee security in the Arctic region, a key demand of the United States, Swedish Defense Minister Pål Jonson said.
Jonson said that European members of NATO are currently “doing what’s called a reconnaissance tour in order to identify what kind of needs there are when it comes to infrastructure and exercises and so forth.”
“What we take note of is that the United States has indeed pointed out that more attention needs to be brought into the High North and to the Arctic,” Jonson told reporters at NATO headquarters in Brussels, after talks with his counterparts from Denmark, Greenland and Norway.
Asked whether it might lead to a more permanent military presence, Jonson said they “think this could be a way forward.”
European markets opened sharply lower on Tuesday and U.S. futures fell further as tensions rose over Greenland. Benchmarks in Germany, France and Britain fell about 1%. The future for the S&P 500 lost 1.5% and the Dow future was down 1.4%.
With U.S. trading closed Monday for a holiday, financial markets had a relatively muted response to Trump’s threat to put a 10% extra tariff on exports from eight European countries that have opposed his push to exert control over Greenland. Jonas Golterman of Capital Economics described the situation as a lose-lose one for both the U.S. and the targets of Trump’s anger. He said, “It certainly fells like the kind of situation that could get worse before it gets better.”
In another sign of tension between allies, the British government on Tuesday defended its decision to hand sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius after Trump attacked the plan, which his administration previously supported.
Trump said that relinquishing the remote Indian Ocean archipelago, home to a strategically important American naval and bomber base, was an act of stupidity that shows why he needs to take over Greenland.
The United Kingdom signed a deal in May to give Mauritius sovereignty over the islands, though the U.K. will lease back the island of Diego Garcia, where the U.S. base is located, for at least 99 years.
In a speech to lawmakers at Britain's Parliament on Tuesday, U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson said he hoped to “calm the waters” as Trump roils the trans-Atlantic relationship with his desire to take over Greenland.
In a speech to lawmakers at Britain's Parliament, Johnson said the U.S. and the U.K. “have always been able to work through our differences calmly, as friends. We will continue to do that.”
AP writers Sylvie Corbet in Paris, Jill Lawless in London, Lorne Cook in Brussels, and Elaine Kurtenbach in Bangkok contributed to this report.
Danish soldiers land at Nuuk airport, Monday, Jan. 19, 2026. (Mads Claus Rasmussen/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)
President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen talks during the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
Riot police clash with protesters after a rally against the World Economic Forum in Davos and the visit of US President Donald Trump, on Monday, in Zurich, Switzerland, Jan. 19, 2026. (Michael Buholzer/Keystone via AP)
A fisherman navigates past ice in the sea off the coast of Nuuk, Greenland, Monday, Jan. 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, center, greets Minister for Foreign Affairs and Research of Greenland Vivian Motzfeldt, right, and Denmark's Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen, left, prior to a meeting at EU headquarters in Brussels, Monday, Jan. 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)
People protest against Trump's policy towards Greenland in front of the US consulate in Nuuk, Greenland, Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
Scott Bessent, US Secretary of the Treasury, holds a speech at the USA House during the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
