Navitas GaN and SiC to enable next-gen AI power deliver
Navitas Semiconductor, the pure-play, next-generation power semiconductor company and industry pioneer in gallium nitride (GaN) power ICs and silicon carbide (SiC) technology, has announced their AI data centre technology roadmap for up to three times power increase to support similar exponential growth in AI power demands expected in just the next 12–18 months.
Traditional CPUs require typically only 300W and the data centre AC/DC power supplies would typically power the equivalent of 10 of these or 3,000W (3kW). High-performance AI processors like NVIDIA’s ‘Grace Hopper’ H100 are already demanding 700W each today, with next-gen ‘Blackwell’ B100 and B200 chips anticipated to increase to 1,000W or more by next year. To meet this exponential power increase, Navitas is developing server power platforms which rapidly increase from 3kW to up to 10kW.
In August 2023, Navitas introduced a 3.2kW data centre power platform utilising latest GaN technology enabling over 100W/in3 and over 96.5% efficiency. Now, Navitas is releasing a 4.5kW platform enabled by a combination of GaN and SiC to push densities over 130W/in3 and efficiencies over 97%. These two platforms have already generated significant market interest with over 20 data centre customer projects in development expected to drive millions in GaN or SiC revenues starting this year.
Today, Navitas also announces its plans to introduce an 810kW power platform by the end of 2024 to support 2025 AI power requirements. The platform will utilise newer GaN and SiC technologies and further advances in architecture to set all-new industry standards in power density, efficiency, and time-to-market. Navitas is already engaged with major data-centre customers, with full platform launch anticipated in Q4 ’24, completing this 3x increase in power demands in only 12–18 months.
Navitas’ data-centre design centre is creating these system designs to address the dramatic increases in AI data centre power requirements, and assist customers to deploy platforms quickly and effectively to meet the accelerated time-to-market demands of rapid AI advances. System designs include complete design collateral with fully-tested hardware, schematics, bill-of-materials, layout, simulation and hardware test results to maximise first-time-right designs and fast revenue generation.
“The rapid development and deployment of artificial intelligence (AI) into global data centres has created a dramatic and unexpected power challenge for our entire industry,” noted Gene Sheridan, Navitas’ CEO and Co-Founder. “Our investment in leading-edge GaN and SiC technologies, combined with our unique data-centre design centre capabilities, have positioned us well. Our team has really stepped up to the challenge, with a three times power increase in less than 18 months.”