Gallium Nitride (GaN) company Navitas Semiconductor has announced its entry into the high-power market with the establishment of a new design center dedicated to introducing next-generation GaN power ICs and related high-efficiency, high-power-density systems for data centers.
The new design center, located in Hangzhou, China, is staffed by a team of power system designers with expertise in electrical, thermal, and mechanical design, software development, and complete simulation and prototyping capabilities. Navitas stated that the new team will support data center power customers worldwide, from concept to prototyping, full validation, and mass production.
This design center will develop schematics, layouts, and firmware for data center power supplies. Additionally, it will establish partnerships focused on magnetic materials, thermal substrates, and other components to help customers optimize their power supply designs.
Navitas estimates that upgrading from traditional silicon materials to new GaN materials can save up to 40% in energy, resulting in $1.9 billion in annual electricity savings for data centers worldwide. Data center power supplies are rated against strict efficiency standards, with the extreme “Titanium” level requiring 96% efficiency at 50% load. These new benchmarks are not only supported by GaN technology but are also mandated by regulations such as the EU’s “2009/125/EC Directive, 2019 Annex”, which requires all new data center power supplies to meet Titanium-level efficiency standards starting January 1, 2023.
Nawei China Vice President and General Manager, Cha Yingjie, stated: “The Navitas data center team possesses cutting-edge GaN power IC technology capabilities as well as hands-on experience in power supply design and validation. The first validated design is a 1.2 kW ‘Titanium+’ design, which not only exceeds the highest efficiency standards for data center power supplies but is also value-engineered to achieve a cost lower than traditional silicon designs. Following this, the team will move on to 2.2 kW and 3 kW platforms.”
The 1.2 kW design was jointly developed by Boco, Navitas, and Hangzhou FRD and is currently undergoing evaluation for mass production in 2022. Golden Yin, CEO of Boco, stated: “GaNFast Power ICs are easy-to-use building blocks with digital input and power output, significantly reducing the time needed for prototyping and getting the first design right.” Ray Gu, General Manager of the Power Division at FRD, remarked: “GaNFast Power ICs are critical to achieving ‘Titanium+’ efficiency, marking an important milestone for next-generation data center power supplies. This will help FRD enhance its product portfolio and provide comprehensive solutions to enterprise customers.”
Gene Sheridan, Co-Founder and CEO, stated: “As data and communications continue to grow exponentially, upgrading data centers to GaNFast power ICs becomes critical to reducing costs, maximizing energy savings, and cutting CO2 emissions. As a key expansion market, we made strategic hires for our data center design team ahead of our recent IPO financing, and that confidence has already paid off. By working with data center engineers around the world, we can accelerate the adoption of GaN-based data centers and make a significant impact on energy savings, power costs, and CO2 emissions.”
Manufacturing GaN power ICs produces 10 times less CO2 emissions compared to manufacturing silicon chips. Considering their efficiency, material size, and weight advantages, each GaN power IC shipped can save 4 kg of CO2. Overall, by 2050, GaN is expected to reduce CO2 emissions by 260 million tons annually.
(This article is reprinted from Compound Semiconductor Magazine.)
