Powering the AI Factory: How EPC GaN Solutions Supercharge the NVIDIA MGX Architecture

The digital world is entering a new AI industrial revolution, with data centers transforming into AI factories that generate intelligence at massive scale. AI is no longer just a software story; it is rapidly becoming an infrastructure story as well. Modern workloads are shifting from simple human‑to‑AI interactions toward AI‑to‑AI collaboration, where agentic models coordinate tasks, reason autonomously, and work across extremely long token sequences. This puts new pressure on infrastructure: not only do systems need more raw compute, they must also meet strict requirements around latency, thermal management, and energy efficiency. To understand how AI factories are being built in practice, NVIDIA MGX™ provides the modular foundation for scalable and flexible accelerated computing infrastructure. While MGX addresses infrastructure modularity and faster deployment, a more serious bottleneck is brewing elsewhere: power delivery. The efficiency of power conversion is critical to maintain performance and efficiency as AI systems become more complex and denser. A key enabling technology is Efficient Power Conversion’s (EPC) gallium nitride (eGaN®) solutions, which offers the efficiency, power density, and thermal performance required for next-generation AI infrastructure.

By Maurizio Di Paolo Emilio

Satellite payload architectures are undergoing a transition from fixed-function processing chains toward flexible computing infrastructures capable of supporting dynamic workloads directly in orbit. This shift reflects a broader transformation in space systems engineering, where spacecraft are increasingly expected to perform signal processing, sensor fusion, anomaly detection, and artificial intelligence inference without relying exclusively on ground-based processing resources.

Experts from EPC and Texas Instruments explain why GaN dominates humanoid robot motor drive design at the joint level.

A humanoid robot requires approximately 40 to 80 motors to drive its limbs and torso, with each hand containing more than a dozen additional motors to replicate dexterous manipulation. The high density of independent actuators creates a complex power-electronics integration challenge that must be packaged within human-dimensional constraints.

At Efficient Power Conversion, we’re pioneering new frontiers in power electronics with eGaN technology that allows for smaller, faster, more efficient systems. From robotics and drones to AI and Space, EPC helps engineers simplify design and bring next-generation innovations to life.

By Marco Palma, Director, Motor Drives Systems and Applications, and Maurizio Di Paolo Emilio, Marcom Director, Efficient Power Conversion (EPC)

Gallium nitride (GaN) power devices are enabling a new generation of high-efficiency, high-power-density motor drive systems. Compared with conventional silicon MOSFETs, GaN transistors offer significantly lower gate charge, reduced output capacitance, and very low on-resistance, allowing power converters to operate at much higher switching speeds. As a result, motor inverters based on GaN technology can achieve switching frequencies well above 100 kHz while reducing both conduction and switching losses. These characteristics enable smaller passive components, improved efficiency, and more compact system designs.

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Compared to existing silicon MOSFETs, GaN offers faster switching speeds and higher efficiency. Demand is rapidly increasing across a wide range of applications, including AI server power supplies, adapters, UPS systems, and EV chargers. In particular, in 48V-based power architectures, applying GaN can reduce power losses by more than 20%, making it a key technology in data centers and high-performance computing environments. Amid these trends, the power semiconductor market is expected to be reorganized around GaN, and the existing MOSFET and driver IC markets - currently worth over $20 billion - are also undergoing rapid changes. Companies like EPC are accelerating the transition to GaN ICs, while continuous technological advancements are driving improvements in system efficiency, size reduction, and reliability. In Korea as well, demand for GaN solutions is steadily increasing, particularly in applications such as EVs, renewable energy, and battery systems. GaN is gaining attention as a core technology that enhances power efficiency while enabling more compact and lightweight designs.

As AI infrastructure migrates to 800 V distribution and humanoid robots embed power electronics directly within joints, Generation 7 GaN and integrated GaN ICs are enabling higher efficiency, faster switching and dramatically improved power density in the critical 15 V to 40 V range — reshaping how hardware development teams approach next-generation conversion architectures.

As artificial intelligence infrastructure scales toward megawatt-class racks and 800 V distribution architectures, and humanoid robotics pushes power electronics directly into joints and actuators, the demands placed on conversion efficiency, density and dynamic performance have fundamentally shifted. Traditional silicon MOSFET-based designs are increasingly constrained by switching losses, thermal limits and physical footprint — particularly in the 15 V to 40 V range that underpins motor drives, point-of-load converters and distributed robotics power stages.

By Maurizio Di Paolo Emilio, Marcom Director, EPC – Efficient Power Conversion

The design requirements for motor drive electronics are being significantly altered by the continuous shift from conventional automation to mobile robotics. Volume, mass, efficiency, acoustic emission, and dynamic response are all simultaneously constrained by actuators integrated into wearable technology, humanoid robots, and aerial platforms. In these applications, the inverter becomes a tightly coupled component of the electromechanical structure rather than a peripheral power stage.

In this video from APEC, Alejandro Pozo, Director of Applications Engineering at EPC, presents the company’s latest low-voltage eGaN FET solutions for high-current buck converters. He walks through several evaluation boards featuring 40 V, 25 V, and 15 V devices delivering up to 50 A with impressive efficiency and very low thermal rise, even without heatsinks. Alejandro also highlights the compact EPC90175 half-bridge board and its integration with standard controllers and measurement hardware used for accurate testing in demanding applications..

Humanoid robotics is changing what motor drive electronics must do. In traditional industrial drives, the inverter is usually placed in an outside cabinet, connected to the motor by cables. However, in humanoid robots, actuators must fit into joints that replicate how people move like the shoulder, elbow, wrist, and even fingers. This architectural shift forces power electronics to migrate inside the motor housing, where space, thermal dissipation and dynamic response requirements are significantly more challenging.

In this video from APEC, Marco Palma, Director, Motor Drives Systems and Applications at EPC, presents advanced motor drive reference designs based on gallium nitride (GaN) technology. He first highlights the EPC91122 reference design, featuring the EPC33110 three-phase power module used to drive a mid-size drone motor and a high-torque humanoid robot joint. He then introduces the EPC91121, a highly integrated board for power tools, built on EPC’s latest Gen 7, 40 V GaN devices. Both platforms showcase compact form factor, high efficiency, and easy scalability from 250 W up to 5 kW for rapid prototyping.

Over the last few years, there has been phenomenal growth in the adoption of wide-bandgap semiconductors, in what seems to be a consolidated trend toward replacing legacy silicon products. Whereas silicon carbide has successfully targeted electric vehicles and charging infrastructure, gallium nitride (GaN) HEMTs have initially made inroads into consumer-oriented applications, primarily chargers and adaptors. Yet GaN is much more versatile than a simple MOSFET replacement for making chargers slimmer and lighter would suggest.

In this webinar, Michael De Rooij, GaN Application Fellow at Efficient Power Conversion (EPC), presents a high-performance 800 V (±400 V) to 12.5 V isolated converter for next-generation server power systems. He explains the cascade input (input-series, output-parallel) architecture using eight interleaved modules, combining a half-bridge primary with a push-pull secondary to cut ripple current, minimize capacitance, and improve thermal distribution. The speaker details the use of low-voltage GaN FETs, the isolation and gate-drive scheme, and measured efficiency above 98%. He concludes by introducing a new 800 V to 50 V, multi-kilowatt, 1 MHz design that doubles power density.

Marco Palma,  Director, Motor Drives Systems and Applications at Efficient Power Conversion (EPC), presents how gallium nitride (GaN) inverters are transforming motor control in humanoid robots. In this talk, he explains how fast-switching GaN devices with zero reverse recovery enable higher PWM frequencies, reduced dead times, and the elimination or reduction of electrolytic capacitors. The result is higher efficiency, higher torque per ampere, smaller form factors, and smoother joint operation. Palma details EPC’s reference designs for various humanoid joints - from arms and wrists to hips - covering integrated three-phase modules and high-current discrete solutions that scale from a few hundred watts to several kilowatts.

In this video, Microchip and EPC showcase their latest advancements in high-efficiency power conversion for next-generation data centers and AI servers. Andreas Reiter, Senior Technical Applications Engineer of dsPIC at Microchip and Michael De Rooij, GaN Applications Fellow, EPC present a 5 kW multi-level flying-capacitor PFC and an ultra-compact 800 V-to-12 V, 6 kW ISOP converter. They explain how low-voltage GaN devices, advanced DSP-based digital control, and sophisticated LLC startup sequencing enable dramatic size, loss, and EMI reductions. If you’re designing high-density server power supplies or exploring cutting-edge digital power architectures, this deep-dive will give you practical insights and concrete implementation ideas.

This presentation by Shengke Zhang, VP Reliability at EPC, addresses one of the most common questions in GaN power device reliability: how manufacturers can confidently guarantee a 10-year lifetime without waiting a decade to verify it. The talk introduces the reliability “bathtub curve,” explains the limits of standard 1,000-hour qualification testing, and presents the test-to-fail approach used to predict long-term wear-out behavior. Through a case study on 48 V intermediate bus converter (IBC) modules for data centers, Zhang highlights the impact of temperature cycling, failure-mechanism analysis, and physics-based lifetime modeling to ensure robust GaN performance in demanding high-power-density applications.

EPC has developed a new converter designed for artificial intelligence-based "sidecar" servers, where the power supply is racked separately from the information technology equipment. This board is a fixed-ratio converter that steps 800 volts down to 12 volts. To achieve a total output of 6 kW, the design utilises 100-volt to 12-volt modules that are each rated at 750 W. The inputs of these individual modules are cascaded in series, while their outputs are connected in parallel.

The entire 6 kW module has a compact physical footprint, measuring 106 mm by 47 mm, and is only 8 mm thick. This high level of miniaturisation is enabled by GaN technology.

EPC has demonstrated the EPC 91122 board featuring the EPC 3111 module, a 100-volt, three-phase module designed for motor control applications.

The board integrates a controller, power module, two current sensors, and a position sensor. Because the Gallium Nitride (GaN) technology enables switching at 100 kHz, the design solely relies on MLCC capacitors, completely eliminating the need for bulkier electrolytic capacitors.

In this webinar, Alex Lidow, CEO of Efficient Power Conversion (EPC) walks through how GaN has crossed a key performance boundary, now outperforming the best silicon MOSFETs at all voltages and in all topologies. You’ll see concrete data on on-resistance, hard and soft switching losses, and real-world efficiency gains in AI, server, and point-of-load converters - from tens of volts down to sub-1 V rails. Lidow also previews future integration-focused generations that push GaN even closer to its theoretical limits.

Gallium nitride (GaN) power devices are redefining the limits of switching converters by combining wide bandgap physics with lateral HEMT structures optimized for fast, low-loss operation. This article describes GaN as the natural successor to silicon MOSFETs in the 100–650 V class, showing how material figures of merit directly translate into lower on-resistance, higher switching frequency, and much higher power density at competitive cost.

Silicon power MOSFETs have driven the evolution of switch-mode power conversion since the late 1970s, replacing bipolar transistors, thanks to majority-carrier operation, ruggedness, and ease of drive. For decades, continuous structural improvements—cell pitch, trench, and superjunction—pushed R_DS(on) down while keeping breakdown capability and manufacturability. However, silicon is now essentially at its theoretical limit for unipolar devices in the 100–600 V range.

EDN
March 2026

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