Navitas Semiconductor says the US Army has selected it for ALATTIS, a prototype program aimed at developing 10 kV silicon carbide power devices and a domestic process for manufacturing them. The ambition reaches beyond designing a chip: Navitas would also need to establish and validate how it can be made in the United States.
That makes manufacturing central to the project’s potential value. A successful development effort could give Navitas another application for its power semiconductor technology, alongside the AI data centers, grid infrastructure and industrial electrification markets it serves.
A manufacturing process to prove
Navitas describes ALATTIS as an effort built around repeated rounds of design, fabrication and testing. Its stated target is ultra-high-voltage silicon carbide devices rated at 10 kV or higher, with domestic manufacturing forming part of the development work.
The company plans to use its patented trench-assisted planar, or TAP, architecture for 10 kV silicon carbide insulated-gate bipolar transistors, usually shortened to IGBTs. The work would extend that architecture into a different device type from the MOSFETs in its GeneSiC portfolio.
The distinction matters when assessing the project. Experience with an existing chip architecture can provide a starting point, but a development plan still needs to demonstrate that the intended devices and manufacturing process work together. The prototype assignment represents an engineering objective, with its outcome dependent on fabrication and testing.
Building on GeneSiC’s high-voltage work
Navitas puts its GeneSiC portfolio’s voltage range at 650 V to 6.5 kV. It also points to earlier high-voltage development work, including 6.5 kV thyristors in 2010 and 10–15 kV PiN diodes in 2012.
Those are different device types, so the historical voltage figures should not be read as proof that the proposed 10 kV IGBTs are already ready for production. They help explain the technical background Navitas is bringing to the project while leaving the manufacturing challenge open.
Navitas describes its manufacturing supply chain as anchored in the US. That positioning fits the domestic production objective, although it does not by itself demonstrate that the process ALATTIS seeks to develop has been established. For this project, the relevant milestone would be a validated process for the intended devices.
The commercial payoff remains open
Navitas’s ALATTIS announcement does not specify an award value. That limits how much can be inferred about the project’s financial importance, even with a defined technical target and a government customer.
For a company serving AI data centers, the program could broaden the applications for its power chips. But the existence of a prototype project alone does not establish future production volumes, recurring sales or a meaningful contribution to earnings. Those would require evidence beyond selection for development work.
The opportunity is specific: develop the devices and validate a way to manufacture them domestically. Its eventual business value would depend on how that engineering effort progresses and whether it leads to further orders. The voltage target gives the work a clear direction; successful production and commercial returns remain outcomes to demonstrate.