Industry-leading power density, new architectures and integration can reduce total cost of ownership, helping engineers solve enterprise-server design challenges
Bengaluru, India (Sept. 21, 2021) – Texas Instruments (TI) (Nasdaq: TXN) today announced its gallium nitride (GaN) technology and C2000™ real-time microcontrollers (MCUs) are being combined with Delta Electronics’ high-efficiency power electronics expertise in the design of an enterprise server power-supply unit (PSU) featuring an 80% improvement in power density with 1% better efficiency — up to 99.2% — for data center applications, compared to enterprise server power supplies using a traditional architecture. A 1% improvement equals 1-megawatt (or 800 households) total cost of ownership savings per data center, according to Energy Innovation1.
Delta Electronics, a global leader in power- and thermal-management solutions and a leading AC/DC, DC/DC and DC/AC power systems provider for a wide range of applications — including IT, electric vehicle charging, appliances and industrial power — chose TI due to its decade-long investment in GaN technology as well as its real-time control solution with C2000 MCUs. TI uses innovative semiconductor manufacturing processes to manufacture GaN-on-silicon technology and integrated circuits (ICs) to help companies such as Delta Electronics create differentiated applications to more efficiently power data centers around the world.
“Our passion at TI is to create a better world by making electronics more affordable through semiconductors, and our GaN technology enables a whole new world of higher efficiency and smaller, more reliable solutions,” said Steve Lambouses, vice president for High Voltage Power at TI. “In addition to technology investments, TI’s investments in internal manufacturing will allow new technologies like GaN to scale quickly and support customers like Delta.”
“Delta’s long-term focus on reducing mankind’s carbon footprint through energy-efficient products and solutions entails long-term collaboration with industry leaders such as TI in regards to next-generation technologies. GaN has crossed the threshold from being a future technology to an immediate, viable option available today for new designs of power supply systems,” said Jimmy Yiin, vice president and general manager of the Power and System Business Group at Delta Electronics. “This is especially true for server PSUs, for which we are looking to exceed 98% efficiency and 100 W/inch3 of power density. The next several years will be exciting because GaN will revolutionize power design and architectures as we know them, which will enable Delta to further cement its position as a leading provider of energy-saving solutions for data centers and other major applications.”
Integrated GaN ICs deliver higher efficiency, power density and system reliability
- In high-voltage, high-power industrial applications, integrated power-supply solutions are better able to achieve high performance within limited board space. TI GaN field-effect transistors (FETs) integrate a fast-switching driver, plus internal protection and temperature sensing.
- These ICs are backed by more than 40 million hours of device reliability testing and more than 5 GWh of power conversion testing, providing rigorous reliability data to support engineers who want to consider GaN to build power systems that are smaller, lighter and more efficient.
- When coupled with TI GaN power solutions, TI C2000 real-time MCUs deliver benefits such as complex, time-critical processing, precision control, and software and peripheral scalability. Additionally, these MCUs fully unlock the potential of GaN-based power solutions for server PSUs by supporting different power-design topologies and high switching frequencies to maximize the design’s power efficiency.
Manufacturing and long-term investment strategy offer volume scalability
- TI’s unique combination of process, package and circuit-design techniques simplifies manufacturing and enables the company to scale GaN-on-silicon production volume by configuring different options to support the changing needs of telecom, industrial and automotive companies.
- TI’s wholly owned GaN epitaxy and assembly/test footprint enables the company to address tool redundancies, as required.
- TI’s long-term investment and flexible manufacturing strategy will allow the company to grow as a leading GaN and real-time MCU supplier, as market demand increases and the trend continues toward smaller systems supporting more data.
TI and Delta Electronics will co-present an “industry insight” session — “The Impact of GaN Technology and What It May Mean for Future Industrial Designs” — during the TI Live! Tech Exchange virtual event, Sept. 27-29, 2021. During the event, TI experts will discuss power management, automotive, real-time control, vision sensing and design trends in a series of keynotes, roundtable discussions, technical sessions and demonstrations. Learn more at ti.com/techexchange.
For more information, see TI.com/gan.
1 Energy Innovation, “How Much Energy Do Data Centers Really Use?”, March 17, 2020.