News: Microelectronics
21 May 2025
Navitas launches 12kW GaN & SiC platform, achieving 97.8% efficiency for hyperscale AI data centers
Gallium nitride (GaN) power IC and silicon carbide (SiC) technology firm Navitas Semiconductor Corp of Torrance, CA, USA has announced its latest 12kW power supply unit (PSU) ‘designed for production’ reference design for hyperscale AI data centers with high-power rack densities of 120kW.
The 12kW PSU complies with Open Rack v3 (ORv3) specifications and Open Compute Project (OCP) guidelines. It utilizes Gen-3 Fast SiC MOSFETs, a novel ‘IntelliWeave’ digital platform, and high-power GaNSafe ICs configured in 3-phase interleaved TP-PFC and FB-LLC topologies to ensure the highest efficiency and performance, with the lowest component count.
The 3-phase interleaved totem-pole power factor correction (TP-PFC) is powered by Gen-3 Fast SiC MOSFETs with ‘trench-assisted planar’ technology, which has been enabled by over 20 years of SiC innovation and offers what is claimed to be world-leading performance over temperature, delivering cool running, fast switching and superior robustness to support faster-charging electric vehicles (EVs) and up to 3x more powerful AI data centers.
IntelliWeave digital control provides a hybrid control strategy of both critical conduction mode (CrCM) and continuous conduction mode (CCM) for light-load to full-load conditions, ensuring maximum efficiency while maintaining a simplistic design with low component count. This results in a 30% reduction in power losses compared with existing CCM solutions.
The 3-phase interleaved full-bridge (FB) LLC topology is enabled by fourth-generation high-power GaNSafe ICs, integrating control, drive, sensing and critical protection features that allow what is claimed to be unprecedented reliability and robustness. GaNSafe is said to be the world’s safest GaN, with short-circuit protection (350ns maximum latency), 2kV ESD protection on all pins, elimination of negative gate drive, and programmable slew rate control. All these features are controlled with four pins, allowing the package to be treated like a discrete GaN FET, requiring no VCC pin. Suitable for applications from 1kW to 22kW, 650V GaNSafe in TOLL and TOLT packages are available with a range of RDS(ON)typ. from 18mΩ to 70mΩ.
The PSU is 790mm x 73.5mm x 40mm and has an input voltage range of 180–305VAC, outputting up to 50VDC and delivering 12kW when using input voltages above 207VAC and 10kW below this. Additionally, it implements active current sharing and over-current, over-voltage, under-voltage and over-temperature protections. It has an operating temperature e range of –5oC to 45oC, a hold-up time of 320ms at 12kW, and an inrush current of £3 times the steady-state current below 20ms. Cooling is via the PSU’s internal fan.
“The continuation and leadership of Navitas’ AI power roadmap has seen a quadrupling in output power – from 2.7kW to 12kW – in just over 24 months,” notes CEO & co-founder Gene Sheridan. “This increase in power delivery is vital for the world’s data centers to support the exponential power demanded by the latest GPU architectures,” he adds. “The ‘designed for production’ PSU enables our customers to quickly implement a highly efficient, simple, and cost-effective solution to address the power delivery challenges for AI and hyperscale data centers.”
The 12kW PSU was presented at Navitas’ ‘AI Tech Night’ on 21 May, alongside the COMPUTEX exhibition in Taipei, Taiwan (20–23 May).
Navitas presents first 8.5kW AI data-center power supply powered by GaN and SiC
