Infineon, TI among NVIDIA supply chain, hard power to open AI power market

Recently, the AI supply chain aspects of the news of huge changes, Tianfeng Securities analyst Guo Ming-Chi said in an article, Infineon and Texas Instruments (TI) has become a new supplier of NVIDIA GB200 server, the two companies will provide voltage regulator components, and the components were previously supplied exclusively by MPS, and now the list of suppliers can be expanded.

This year, Infineon and TI released new products and technologies are very frequent, power supply devices have a large proportion, in addition to the traditional areas of consumer, automotive, industrial, etc., for the AI server program is also more and more, which Infineon embodied more.

It can also be noted that not only the silicon device update, the third generation of compounds SiC and GaN new devices are also more and more. the power density of AI servers to improve, must be realized through two types of wide bandgap semiconductor. The two original factories into the NVIDIA supply chain, there must be a reason in this regard.

Infineon: complete roadmap planning, three major material combination utilization

As a major power supply and power device manufacturer, Infineon announced its product roadmap for high-efficiency power devices for AI data centers in May this year. By achieving higher performance levels for power supply units (PSUs), Infineon can help cloud data center and AI server operators to reduce system cooling energy consumption, thereby reducing emissions and lowering operating costs.

In addition to the already launched PSUs with 3kW and 3.3kW output power, the new 8kW and 12kW units will further improve the energy efficiency of AI data centers in the near future. 8kW PSUs support AI racks with a maximum output power of 300kW or more, and the power density will be increased to 100W/in3 (cubic watts per inch), a significant increase compared to the current 32W/in3 of 3kW PSUs. in3 compared to 32W/in3 for the current 3kW PSU. Higher power density saves system size and reduces energy costs for operators.

The key to achieving this improvement is the combined use of Si, SiC and GaN semiconductors. As seen in the roadmap, 3.3kw and later PSUs are using a three-materials integrated solution. the combined use of CoolSiC, CoolGaN, CoolMOS, OptiMOS and other three materials and several series of power MOSFETs will result in a module with a baseline efficiency of 97.5% and a power density of 95W/in3. Infineon 's pioneering layout in the field of SiC and GaN is the basis for a series of advanced product lines today.

Infineon acquired Canada's GaN Systems in 2023, a deal that allowed Infineon to quickly fill its presence in the GaN market. Infineon also launched in September this year, the world's first 300 mm (8-inch) GaN technology, wafer finished products will be displayed in November, marking the GaN device production increase and cost reduction is also on the line, and this is the basis of Infineon's far-reaching PSU wide range of GaN applications.

SiC field, Infineon failed to acquire Wolfspeed, and does not have its own SiC wafer production capacity. This year Infineon is to further consolidate the partnership with the latter, in January and Wolfspeed exhibition and extended the multi-year 150 mm (6-inch) supply agreement to support the development of future product lines. In addition, Infineon acquired Siltectra as early as 2018 to gain access to its unique cold cutting (Cold Split) technology, which can significantly improve the utilization of SiC materials, contributing to the economies of scale of production, while also compensating to a certain extent for the lack of self-sufficiency in wafer materials.

Integration in the upstream of the industry chain allows Infineon to have a strong foundation to support the launch of a wide range of power MOSFET products this year and update the power MOSFET products, and the use of its high-quality products to build modules for downstream applications.

In terms of SiC devices, Infineon has mainly updated the 650V and 1200V CoolSiC MOSFET G2 and the 400V CoolSiC MOSFET series this year; in terms of GaN devices, Infineon has mainly updated the CoolGaN 700V G4 series of power transistors; and in terms of silicon devices, Infineon has launched a new power MOSFET in the 600V CoolMOS 8 series and the OptiMOS 6 series, as well as a new power MOSFET in the 600V CoolMOS 6 series. For GaN devices, Infineon has updated its CoolGaN 700V G4 series of power transistors.

The continuous update of the above three major material devices will greatly help AI servers to increase power density and support GPU cores with more arithmetic power in a limited rack size. Infineon 's efforts to bring wide bandgap semiconductors such as SiC and GaN from automotive to AI servers, especially the high operating voltage provided by these devices, have also been a “necessity” for AI servers to improve energy efficiency. With excellent technical specifications and strong product integration capabilities, Infineon has been able to join NVIDIA 's supply chain, which is undoubtedly a proof of its own strength.

TI: GaN devices and new packaging forward-looking significant

As the No. 1 analog manufacturer, TI has traditional advantages in the power field, with extensive and high-quality product lines in many areas such as power management, digital isolation, linear voltage regulation and voltage conversion. Entering the AI era, TI also follows the trend, using a variety of new technologies, committed to improving the overall power density of the system.

In the field of compound semiconductors, TI's layout focuses on GaN. through long-term experimentation and accumulation, TI launched a 600V FET device in 2018, becoming an important promoter of GaN device applications. In March this year, Texas Instruments said it would convert the production of GaN devices from 6-inch wafers to 8 inches to improve scale efficiency. The initiative with TI in the silicon device large-scale introduction of 12-inch production line corresponds to, will inevitably promote the price of GaN devices to reduce, and enhance the popularity of the application.

In June of this year, TI launched the industry 's first GaN power integration module (IPM) DRV7308, for 150W to 250W motor drive applications. The module can achieve 99% driver efficiency and improve system heat dissipation, while the size can be reduced by 55%. As GaN's SWaP-C (size, weight and power) metrics surpass those of IGBTs and MOSFETs, and are gradually being recognized by the industry. Just as MOSFETs replaced bipolar transistors back in the day, TI's gallium nitride IPMs are poised to start a wave of replacements in the motor market.

In line with the trend of miniaturization, TI in the module packaging also launched a unique technology. TI in July announced its own MagPack packaging technology, which can reduce the size of the power module up to 50%, in order to maintain the same thermal performance under the premise of the power module power density increased by a factor of two. Compared with the previous generation of products, the industry's ultra-small 6A power supply module can reduce electromagnetic interference (EMI) radiation by 8dB, while improving efficiency by up to 2%. Three of the six MagPack modules introduced first are the industry's smallest 6A power modules, providing 1A per square millimeter current output capability.

In an increasingly complex circuit environment, how to improve power density while reducing EMI interference is a critical issue. Especially in the internal environment of the AI server, to ensure high computing power, is bound to enhance the design of the power supply system is difficult.TI gives the lightweight program, the future is quite forward-looking significance, can significantly reduce the difficulty and cost of power system design, accelerate the program to market, which is TI among the supply chain of Nvidia important reason.

Demand stimulates new competition

From the point of view of NVIDIA 's Blackwell and AMD 's newly released MI325X chips, the increase in arithmetic power will inevitably bring about an increase in thermal design power, and the demand for high-quality power supply solutions for future AI servers will only increase. Infineon and TI can be among NVIDIA 's supply chain, and the two manufacturers in the field of power supply and power devices of the traditional advantages are closely related, but also with its SiC, GaN's excellent product integration and supply capabilities are inseparable.

It can be seen that the combination of silicon devices and the third generation of wide bandgap semiconductor competition has begun, in this market in addition to Infineon and TI, ST, ON Semiconductor, Renesas, Rohm and so on also have a strong competitive edge. Future competition in the power supply market will not be limited to traditional areas, the server market competition will be equally fierce, and the corresponding opportunities will also emerge frequently in this area.