Gallox Semiconductors, a startup with roots at Cornell University, has had recent success on the international stage, winning the 2025 Hello Tomorrow Global Challenge in the Advanced Computing & Electronics category.

Hello Tomorrow is an international competition designed to support early-stage deep tech startups that leverage scientific discoveries. To win the challenge, startups must demonstrate technological innovation, potential for substantial impact, economic viability and strong leadership. 

Gallox founder Jon McCandless, Ph.D. ’23, became interested in the compound gallium oxide as a semiconductor during his time as a researcher at the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory from 2016 to 2017. This inspired him to pursue a Ph.D. at Cornell under Debdeep Jena, an expert in developing new materials for electronic devices and the David E. Burr Professor of Engineering. 

Through his research, McCandless aimed to develop a more efficient semiconductor technology. Semiconductors are the materials used to power any technology that requires a computer chip to function, from consumer electronics to industrial applications.  

Gallox’s gallium oxide semiconductors have potential applications in space technology, aviation and electric vehicle charging. Gallium oxide’s heightened energy efficiency offers a promising alternative to silicon carbide, the most commonly used semiconductor in power electronics today. The technology allows for smaller, more powerful chips with the potential to increase computers’ capabilities and reduce the environmental impact of computing. 

After completing his Ph.D., McCandless completed Ignite Fellow for New Ventures — a venture acceleration program supporting and funding Cornell startups and managed by Cornell’s Center for Technology Licensing (CTL). Following his graduation from the program, McCandless, along with Jena and Huili Grace Xing, the William L. Quackenbush Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and of Materials Science and Engineering, licensed the technology from CTL to found Gallox.  

McCandless said Gallox is the first company in the world to commercialize a gallium oxide semiconductor innovation.  

“Cornell has a very, very rich history and legacy in this area,” McCandless said. “Because of the great facilities they offer, they attract great faculty. This leads to great research, lending itself to commercialization.” 

To do this research and commercialization, Gallox is an industry partner in NORDTECH, a U.S. Department of Defense-funded coalition advancing research and development in microelectronics. Cornell is one of five founding members of this regional hub. Gallox also received a National Science Foundation STTR Phase I award totaling $305,000 in early 2025.

Today, Gallox is a member of the Cornell Praxis Center for Venture Development, an on-campus business incubator that supports physical sciences companies. Working alongside other successful innovators and professionals helps to give startups the entrepreneurial confidence to take their product to the next level. 

“Talking with Bob Scharf (Director of the Praxis Center) built up momentum,” said McCandless. “We got advice, giving us a roadmap to ramp up and take off. We were then applying for funding, thinking, ‘How are we going to support our work once I finish?’” 

Four other semiconductor startups at the Praxis Center have roots in discoveries made at Cornell:  

• OWiC Technologies – Founder Alejandro Cortese, Ph.D. ’19, developed the world’s smallest smart microsystems in the labs of Alyosha Molnar, the Ilda and Charles Lee Professor of Engineering in Cornell Engineering, and Paul McEuen, the John A. Newman Professor of Physical Science Emeritus in the College of Arts and Sciences.
• EchoICS – Founder Thomas Tapen ’15, Ph.D. ’21, developed alternative flexible-spectrum radios in the lab of Alyssa Apsel, the Ellis L. Phillips Sr. Director of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the IBM Professor of Engineering.
• Soctera – Co-founders Austin Hickman, Ph.D. ’21, and Reet Chaudhuri, Ph.D. '21, developed a power amplifier that operates at lower temperatures and greater efficiency, enabling higher power density operation, in the Jena-Xing Laboratory in Cornell Engineering.
• Geegah – Co-founders Justin Kuo, Ph.D. ’18, and Amit Lal, the Robert M. Scharf 1977 Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, have developed chips that can sense and image objects in contact at high resolution using gigahertz ultrasound.   

Deep tech innovators at Cornell have access to facilities, equipment and mentorship, allowing early-stage startups to leverage the university’s research, development and commercialization resources.  

The Cornell NanoScale Science and Technology Facility (CNF) is one resource Praxis members and the larger Cornell community can access to refine and test their products.  

“The CNF may be the best nanoscale facility in an academic setting in the entire country, allowing you to build things from a semiconductor standpoint that would be nearly impossible in most places,” Cortese said.  

For Gallox, the resources provided by Cornell have enabled the company to further its research and commercialization, contributing significantly to its current success.  

“Having resources and facilities, clean rooms, characterization, measurements, these are things that you can’t get in many places,” McCandless said. “Without this, it wouldn't have been possible.” 

In addition to facilities like the CNF that help innovators with research and development, startups need to conduct market research and secure funding to progress. Incubator members are encouraged to participate in the National Science Foundation I-Corps program, which provides free entrepreneurship training for researchers.

Through I-Corps, McCandless interviewed 130 potential customers to explore the market for his technology. He also developed the company through the Green Technology Innovation Fellows program, which pairs doctoral researchers with graduate business students to explore startup creation.

The combination of Cornell’s robust innovation ecosystem and leadership in semiconductor research has created an environment where startups can thrive. 

“The potential for all of these companies has always existed,” Hickman said, adding that “having the right communication to the right people can be the biggest thing for startups.”