Special Panel: Advanced Electronics Packaging for Power Modules in Grid-Connected AI Factories
Distinguished panelists:
Moderators:
Ramchandra Kotecha (GE Aerospace)
Abstract:
This session looks at how power electronics and thermal management need to evolve to support the next generation of AI factories and datacenters. As power demands continue to climb, the industry is moving beyond traditional 48V systems toward higher-voltage architectures, including emerging 800V approaches that can reduce resistive losses, lower copper use, and simplify power delivery in dense computing environments. We’ll explore how different power semiconductor technologies — from conventional silicon modules to newer wide-bandgap solutions like GaN and SiC — fit into this landscape, and where each makes the most sense based on efficiency, power density, cost, and thermal performance.
We’ll also cover the materials and packaging advances that are making these systems possible, including improved power modules, high thermal conductivity substrates, and next-generation thermal interface materials designed to handle the extreme heat generated by AI infrastructure. Looking ahead, we’ll discuss the potential of solid-state transformers and other high-voltage conversion approaches to reduce the size and complexity of today’s power hardware.
Just as importantly, we’ll look at these changes from the chip side. AI processors are pushing the limits of power delivery, with rising current densities, tighter voltage margins, and more severe local hotspots driving new approaches in package and system design. We’ll talk about integrated voltage regulation, backside power delivery, and 3D packaging, and how these technologies can improve power integrity and thermal performance closer to the die. By bringing together the system-level and chip-level views, this session aims to give a more complete picture of how power, packaging, and thermal technologies need to come together to support the future of AI — from the grid all the way to the chip.