GE partners with Axcelis on high-voltage SiC devices — will this be a breakthrough tech?

Court: S.D. New York

Case: 1:17-cv-08457

GE Aerospace has just partnered with Axcelis Technologies on a new joint development project to build 6.5–10kV Silicon Carbide (SiC) superjunction devices. These are high-voltage chips with serious potential in aerospace, defense, and even quantum computing.

They’re leaning on Axcelis’ Purion XEmax platform — basically a high-energy ion implanter tailored for complex SiC manufacturing. This could mean better efficiency and reliability in fabricating high-voltage components. The whole thing ties into GE’s broader push at the CLAWS Hub with NC State, where they’re already working on high-voltage SiC switch systems.

The use cases they’re targeting are pretty wide-ranging — avionics, hypersonics, AI, autonomous vehicles, grid stability. It’s a smart play if the tech delivers.

At the same time, Axcelis just posted strong Q2 earnings. EPS hit $1.13 (way above the $0.71 estimate), and revenue clocked in at $195M. DA Davidson even bumped their price target to $90 and reiterated their Buy call.

But for GE, there’s still that lingering $362.5M investor settlement hanging over them. It’s not stopping the innovation push, but it definitely weighs on investor sentiment.

Do you think this partnership is a real step forward for GE’s tech credibility, or is it too early to count on SiC as a growth driver?