GaN Wine Lounge

Maurizio Di Paolo Emilio speaks with Tobias Fuhr of Finepower about the evolution of power electronics and the impact of GaN technology. Fuhr highlights how EPC’s expanding portfolio, including complete motor control solutions, enables sophisticated applications such as humanoid robots. He discusses how GaN has revolutionized compact USB‑C chargers and enabled lighter, highly efficient converters in aerospace and avionics. Looking ahead, Fuhr envisions power electronics becoming “invisible,” a ubiquitous yet unseen engine of everyday life.

In this interview, EPC’s Maurizio Di Paolo Emilio speaks with AccoTEST Global Marketing Director Huipeng Liu about a decade of experience testing GaN and other wide bandgap devices. Liu explains why GaN must be treated as an IC, not a simple discrete, and describes AccoTEST’s multi-site, wafer-level test solutions. They discuss reliability challenges for AI data centers, key wafer-level parameters such as leakage and Rds(on), and why future breakthroughs in GaN will be driven primarily by applications.

In this interview, Episil Group chairman JH Shyu discusses the company’s role as a GaN foundry partner to EPC. He outlines key challenges in GaN manufacturing, including thermal management, dynamic Rds(on) degradation, EMI, and reliability for both AI servers and automotive applications. Shyu highlights scaling from 6‑inch to 8‑ and 12‑inch wafers, the transition toward vertical GaN, and the integration of all‑in‑one GaN power ICs as major milestones reshaping the power electronics industry.

In this episode of GaN Wine Lounge, Maurizio Di Paolo Emilio talks with Bolaji Ojo, founder of GeotechNexus, about how semiconductors have shifted from single “volume drivers” to a foundation for every sector of the global economy. Ojo explains why AI’s explosive growth is creating a massive, unresolved energy challenge and why power electronics—especially GaN—will be the defining story of the next decade. He highlights companies like EPC as key players turning GaN from a niche concept into industrial reality.

In this episode, Alex Lidow explains why power is the real bottleneck in AI. He outlines how GaN reshapes data center power delivery and motor drives for robots and autonomous machines. Ahead of PCIM Asia, he previews Gen 8 for ultra‑efficient point-of-load conversion and Trinity for highly integrated motor control, supported by EPC’s reference designs and tools.

This episode features EPC’s Nick Cataldo on the company’s role at PCIM Asia, where Gen 8 GaN and Trinity motor control will be demonstrated. He explains GaN’s advantages over silicon, EPC’s long-term reliability data, and why Asian AI and robotics markets are pivotal for next-generation power and motion control designs.

In this GaN Wine Lounge episode at PCIM Nuremberg, EPC’s Maurizio Di Paolo Emilio interviews TDK’s Ralf Higgelke about his journey from power supply design engineer to technology journalist and corporate communications leader. Higgelke explains how this background gives him a holistic view of power electronics and wide bandgap technologies. He argues that GaN and silicon carbide are complementary but that GaN is rapidly encroaching on higher-power domains, highlighting applications in AI data centers, robotics, and future solid-state transformers.

At PCIM Europe in Nuremberg, Maurizio Di Paolo Emilio interviewed Mike Engelhardt, inventor of QSPICE, about the latest advances in GaN power electronics. They discussed how GaN enables faster, more efficient power designs, common simulation pitfalls, and the importance of accurate device models for reliable circuit design. Mike also previewed the 2026 GaN FET model for QSPICE and shared insights into future integration with test equipment and vector network analyzers.

This interview with Shengke Zhang, Vice President of Reliability at EPC, explores the development of a fully functional GaN power converter operating at 4 Kelvin. Zhang explains why 4 K is a critical temperature for superconducting and quantum computing research and why GaN HEMTs outperform silicon MOSFETs in cryogenic conditions. He details key engineering challenges, especially wiring and peripherals, and outlines future work on monolithic power stages, system-level reliability for AI, and short-circuit robustness in low-voltage GaN devices.