The factory of the bankrupt BelGaN has found a buyer. Belgian investor Thema Foundries BV wants to resume chip production in Oudenaarde and may employ up to 500 people.
In April, it was announced that a European investor would take over the factory of the bankrupt BelGaN in Oudenaarde. BelGaN went bankrupt in September 2024 after no buyer was found for the company. There now appears to be interest in the factory itself. The buyer has now revealed itself to be the Ghent-based company Thema Foundries BV, which will acquire the factory through its subsidiary Bellaser BV.
BelGaN specialized in gallium nitride chips, but was unable to generate sufficient profit from them. Gallium nitride chips are interesting for modern compact chargers, among other things, and for use in electric vehicles and data centers. In 2022, the company still expanded with an acquisition and a complete transition to gallium nitride (GaN) chip production. However, for BelGaN, the switch from classic silicon chip production proved to be fatal.
Photonic chips
The new owner of the factory will take over the site with clean rooms for 20.35 million euros, but has no interest in the equipment to build GaN chips. The intention is to produce photonic chips in the factory. These require a different production line. Converting the factory could cost up to around 200 million euros.
Such chips function not only based on electricity but also on light. Applications are numerous, especially in situations where fast data transfer with low latency is important. Think again of the automotive sector and data centers, as well as AI-related workloads. Photonic chips promise to be faster and, above all, more energy-efficient. The site in Oudenaarde will be the first full-fledged factory in Europe to commercially produce this chip technology.
Belgium at the Forefront
With the investment in the BelGaN site, commercial chip production seems to be returning to Belgian soil. This is good news for Belgium, which with research institution Imec still remains at the forefront of R&D in chip design. In the long term, the factory could create up to 500 jobs.
This article originally appeared on April 1 and was updated with the latest information.