When engineers talk about high-voltage DC contactors and relays, the name GIGAVAC tends to come up quickly — and for good reason. Over roughly two decades, this California-based company helped define the standards, technologies and vocabulary of an entire product category. Knowing where GIGAVAC came from and what it built is not just a history lesson; it is essential context for anyone working in electric vehicles, energy storage or industrial power electronics today.

The roots: where GIGAVAC came from

GIGAVAC was founded in 2002 by the management team that had previously built Kilovac, a well-regarded high-voltage relay brand eventually sold to TE Connectivity. That founding team brought decades of hands-on experience in the engineering, manufacturing and application of high-voltage switching components.

Perhaps more telling is the background of GIGAVAC’s Chief Scientist — a former VP of Engineering at Jennings Technology who held the foundational patents for many of the relay designs still in use across the industry today. GIGAVAC was not a startup stumbling into a niche market; it was a deliberate effort by veterans who had spent careers mastering it.

The company’s original tagline — “Today’s Experts in High Voltage Relays” — was not marketing hyperbole. It was a statement of pedigree.

Early days: building the foundation (2002–2006)

GIGAVAC officially opened its doors on 31 March 2003, operating out of a modest facility in Carpinteria, near Santa Barbara, California. The initial product line focused on high-voltage and RF induction relays — components designed to:

• Operate at high voltages with minimal RF losses
• Maintain reliable dielectric isolation
• Function across a wide range of altitudes and harsh environmental conditions
• Provide superior switching performance compared with traditional open-air relays

A key technology advantage at this stage was the use of vacuum as a dielectric medium. Vacuum offers roughly eight times the dielectric strength of air, and because there is no oxidation inside a sealed vacuum environment, low-resistance copper contacts could be used — allowing the relay to carry significantly more current than conventional designs.

Sales grew quickly. A reputation for technical depth and customer service let the company expand manufacturing in California and address the next frontier: high-power DC contactors.

The EPIC® breakthrough (2006–2008)

As the engineering team served customers with more demanding power requirements, one challenge kept returning: how to build a sealed contactor with genuine high-power switching capability that would stay reliable in industrial and electrification applications.

The answer was the patented EPIC® (Extended Performance Impervious Ceramic) sealed contactor series, launched in late 2006. The platform introduced several meaningful advances:

• Ceramic-to-metal sealing — allowing virtually any gas fill inside the sealed chamber, including sulphur hexafluoride (SF₆) and nitrogen mixtures, which dramatically reduced contact wear during switching
• Hermetic integrity — robust protection against contamination, moisture and pressure changes in field environments
• Versatile gas dielectrics — SF₆ is an excellent insulator, and combined with nitrogen the relay becomes effectively “bounceless”, extending contact life under heavy switching loads
• Extended performance envelope — opening up ESD test equipment, medical defibrillators, cable testing, battery management and more

EPIC technology became the cornerstone of GIGAVAC’s product differentiation and the platform on which all later contactor families were built. Buoyed by strong sales growth, the company moved into a larger facility in July 2008 — the transition from specialty manufacturer to serious industrial supplier.

Portfolio expansion (2008–2018)

The years after the facility move saw GIGAVAC expand its lineup substantially, responding to demand across automotive, military, industrial and heavy-vehicle sectors. Key additions included:

• GX industrial contactors — for demanding industrial applications requiring high cycle life
• MX high-reliability contactors — engineered to military-grade specifications for harsh, high-reliability use cases
• HX series — built for the rising voltage requirements of electrification, particularly electric vehicles and EV charging infrastructure
• Sensing contactors — diagnostic and feedback capability for more intelligent circuit management
• Manual disconnect switches — rounding out the sealed switching ecosystem

Throughout this period the company held firmly to its high-voltage relay roots, serving medical equipment, semiconductor testing, telecommunications and power distribution. Offering both vacuum and gas-filled technologies across a voltage range from 2 kV to 100 kV gave GIGAVAC unusually broad reach for a privately held manufacturer.

By the mid-2010s it served more than 1,500 customers across automotive, battery storage, industrial, heavy vehicle and off-road markets, with over 270 employees working from an ISO 9001-certified, 40,000 sq ft facility.

Acquisition by Sensata Technologies (2018)

In September 2018, Sensata Technologies — a global industrial technology company and a leading provider of sensors, electrical protection and power management solutions — agreed to acquire GIGAVAC for approximately US$233 million.

The strategic rationale was clear. Electrification was accelerating across automotive, heavy vehicle and industrial markets, and high-voltage contactors were mission-critical in battery electric vehicles, charging stations and storage systems. GIGAVAC’s technology, customer relationships and engineering talent gave Sensata immediate position in a high-growth space.

The deal closed in October 2018, with the Carpinteria headquarters designated a centre of excellence for future contactor and relay development. The brand continued to operate inside Sensata’s portfolio — aerospace and defence, electric vehicles, clean energy and industrial — under the Sensata | GIGAVAC designation.

GIGAVAC’s enduring legacy

GIGAVAC’s story is, at its core, about what happens when deep engineering expertise meets an inflection point in market demand. The company did not simply ride a wave — it helped create the technical vocabulary and product benchmarks engineers still reference when specifying high-voltage DC switching.

• Standardising ceramic-sealed contactor technology for EV and industrial use cases
• Demonstrating that sealed, hermetic designs can deliver both long service life and high switching reliability
• Bridging traditional high-voltage relay applications — RF, medical, test equipment — and emerging electrification markets
• Setting performance expectations around current capacity, voltage endurance and temperature range that still shape procurement decisions today

If you are specifying a contactor for an 800 V or 1000 V platform and want to understand how a sealed ceramic design compares with a ceramic-brazed or gas-filled alternative, send us your voltage, continuous current and duty cycle. We will put the options side by side, with datasheets and a quote.