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[News] AI is Booming, Creating Opportunities for SiC and GaN
As two representative materials of wide-bandgap semiconductors, gallium nitride (GaN) currently thrives in the fast charging sector of consumer electronics, while silicon carbide (SiC) is gradually gaining ground in the application scenarios of new energy vehicles. Simultaneously, both are expanding into broader application boundaries. The strong emergence of AI has created new incremental markets for silicon carbide and gallium nitride.
Against this backdrop, innovative products such as Infineon’s CoolSiC™ MOSFET 400V series and Navitas’ new 4.5kW server power supply solutions have recently been launched, driving the increasing popularity of silicon carbide/gallium nitride in AI server power supplies (PSU).
Silicon Carbide/Gallium Nitride: The Breakthrough for PSU Upgrades
In recent years, the hot application of generative AI and the explosive growth of AI chip computing power have led to a surge in global data center electricity consumption. To address the high energy consumption crisis brought about by AI, upgrading data center PSUs has become a critical breakthrough.
Currently, PSUs for global AI and hyperscale computing data centers come in three form factors: CRPS185, CRPS265, and OCP of the Open Compute Project. The heights and widths of these power supplies are the same, differing only in length. Each CRPS185 power supply has fixed dimensions of 185mm x 73.5mm x 40mm. Thus, given that the physical size cannot change, increasing power demands from AI servers necessitate improvements in power density.
Power density enhancements can be achieved by increasing switching frequency. Since silicon-based products have reached their physical performance limits, the high switching frequency characteristics of GaN devices make them more suitable for high-density CRPS applications. In contrast, SiC devices, compared to silicon-based products, can operate at higher temperatures and voltages, achieving more efficient power conversion and reducing energy loss.
In practical applications, Navitas has significantly improved power density and efficiency through a reference design for CRPS server power supplies that combines SiC power devices and GaN power chips. In July this year, Navitas released an innovative CRPS185 4.5kW AI data center server power supply solution based on its GaNSafe™ high-power GaN power chips and the third-generation fast SiC power devices from GeneSiC™, reportedly achieving a leading power density of 137W/in³ and efficiency of over 97% in the AI data center PSU industry.
The Battle for AI Server Power Supplies Among Leading Silicon Carbide/Gallium Nitride Power Device Manufacturers
A competition in AI server power supplies among SiC/GaN power device manufacturers is already underway. Apart from Navitas, players such as Infineon, ON Semiconductor, EPC, Texas Instruments, GaNext, Corenergy, and Danxitech have entered the fray.
Infineon
In June of this year, Infineon launched a new CoolSiC™ MOSFET 400V series specially developed for AC/DC stages of AI servers. This new series has lower conduction and switching losses compared to existing 650V SiC and Si MOSFETs, increasing the power density of AI server power supplies to over 100W/in³ and achieving an efficiency of 99.5%, which is 0.3 percentage points higher than solutions using 650V SiC MOSFETs.
For the 54V output platform of AI servers, Infineon has developed a 3.3kW PSU dedicated demo board, utilizing Infineon’s CoolGaN™, CoolSiC™, and CoolMOS™ designs to achieve a benchmark overall efficiency of 97.5% and a power density of 96W/in³, meeting the high-power demands of data center PSUs.
At the PCIM Asia 2024 exhibition, an Infineon spokesperson emphasized that reducing data center energy consumption is a pressing need for AI industry development and a primary focus for Infineon. Infineon’s new generation of SiC MOSFET trench gate technology features lower on-resistance, higher switching efficiency, and better reliability, offering significant performance improvements to meet the needs of AI server power supplies.
ON Semiconductor
In response to the “three highs” challenge of PSU output power, conversion efficiency, and power density, ON Semiconductor has launched the latest generation of T10 PowerTrench® series and EliteSiC 650V MOSFET combination, providing a comprehensive solution for data center applications. This solution offers higher efficiency and better thermal performance in a smaller package size.
Among these products, the EliteSiC 650V SiC M3S MOSFET is designed to address data center efficiency challenges, meeting the Open Rack V3 (ORV3) PSU’s peak efficiency requirement of up to 97.5%. The T10 PowerTrench® series enhances thermal performance through optimized packaging technology, addressing the need for high power conversion efficiency and miniaturization in data centers.
EPC
At the PCIM exhibition, EPC showcased samples of humanoid robots using GaN and an autonomous mini-vehicle incorporating EPC’s GaN power devices in its onboard LiDAR components.
In addition to scenarios like humanoid robots and LiDAR, AI data center PSUs are also a key focus area for EPC. In communications with TrendForce Compound Semiconductor, Zhang Shengke, Vice President of EPC’s Reliability Division, stated that EPC’s low-voltage GaN devices can meet all 48V-to-12V server power converter component needs.
TI
As early as 2021, TI had reached a collaboration with server power supply provider Delta to develop efficient, high-power enterprise PSUs for data centers based on TI’s GaN technology and C2000™ MCU real-time control solutions.
TI has invested ten years into GaN technology and C2000™ MCU real-time control solutions. Through collaboration with Delta, TI can utilize innovative semiconductor manufacturing processes to produce silicon-based GaN and integrated circuits, helping companies like Delta create differentiated applications and power data centers worldwide more efficiently.
To lead the industry’s development, both Navitas and Infineon announced their AI data center power supply technology roadmaps, demonstrating their commitment to continuously strengthen their presence in this field.
To meet the exponential power demand increase of AI data centers, Navitas is continuously developing new server power supply platforms, aiming to rapidly elevate power levels from 3kW to 10kW, with a launch expected in Q4 2024.
In addition to its existing 3kW and 3.3kW PSUs, Infineon will soon launch new 8kW and 12kW PSUs to further enhance AI data center efficiency. With the 12kW reference board, Infineon is poised to release the world’s first AI data center PSU to achieve this performance level.
On the domestic front, GaNext has partnered with prestigious universities to jointly develop and mass-produce the industry’s first 3.5kW CRPS fanless server power supply, achieving a high efficiency of 97.6% through two-phase interleaved totem-pole PFC and LLC, with a power density reaching 73.6W/Inch³. Several relevant products from Nengsi Technology have been sampled by leading domestic enterprises and have successfully completed the related reliability tests. Danxitech’s related products have been sampled to leading domestic companies and have completed reliability tests. Corenergy ‘s 1200V GaN products have been sampled by a known server power supplier and are undergoing reliability evaluation. Various major manufacturers are jointly advancing the industrialization of GaN in AI data center PSU applications.
Summing up, power density and efficiency in AI server power supplies continue to improve, focusing on two primary performance indicators for SiC/GaN power device manufacturers. This trend is likely to spur the production of various high-performance products, attracting more SiC/GaN players to enter the market.
Conclusion
The data center power supply sector has become a key focus of leading silicon carbide/gallium nitride manufacturers in recent years. Some manufacturers’ SiC/GaN products have already made progress in the data center power supply market, with the strong rise of AI further driving the development of this market.
As AI technologies evolve and computational power demand continues to grow, the energy efficiency and power density requirements of data centers will become increasingly stringent, imposing higher performance demands on SiC/GaN power device products from various manufacturers.
The continuous development of the SiC and GaN industry, coupled with the thriving AI ecosystem, will result in more intersections between SiC, GaN, and AI. The competition for AI server power supplies among major manufacturers will become increasingly intense.
