The Belgian semiconductor manufacturer BelGaN files for bankruptcy. The company’s more than 400 employees are threatened with unemployment.

BelGaN BV, a Belgian semiconductor manufacturer, filed for bankruptcy yesterday morning. The company had only been active since 2022, when it took over the production site in Oudenaarde from the American Onsemi. BelGaN BV produced chips for the automotive industry.

The chip factory in Oudenaarde, the only site in our country where chips are produced on an industrial scale, employed more than four hundred people. They were informed of the bankruptcy yesterday morning. The management promises to find a solution for the employees. A new start is possible.

Expensive gambling

BelGaN’s management decided in 2022 to focus entirely on gallium nitride as the main component of its semiconductors. This material has higher energy efficiency than the usual silicon. This required a complete change of the production line: a change that would take several years and, above all, cost a lot of money.

Things quickly got tough for BelGaN. The company looked for additional investments, but ultimately they were never found. BelGaN was faced with an acute lack of cash flow. Various options for investors were explored, but without success, so that the management now sees no other option than to close the books, explains the young Belgian company.

With the bankruptcy of BelGaN, the only active chip factory in our country will be closed. The Oudenaarde site has existed for forty years. Belgium continues to play an important role in the global chip industry through IMEC.