News: Microelectronics
31 January 2025
Gallium nitride power semiconductors to reach adoption tipping points in multiple industries in 2025, predicts Infineon
In its 2025 predictions for gallium nitride (GaN) power semiconductors, Infineon Technologies AG of Munich, Germany highlights that GaN will be a game-changing material for energy efficiency and decarbonization across the consumer, mobility, residential solar, telecoms, and AI data-center sectors, as GaN enables efficient performance, smaller size, lighter weight, and lower overall cost. While USB-C chargers and adapters have been the forerunners, GaN is now on its way to reaching tipping points in its adoption in further industry sectors, driving the market for GaN-based power semiconductors.
“Infineon is committed to driving decarbonization and digitalization through innovation based on all semiconductor materials Si, SiC and GaN,” says Johannes Schoiswohl, head of Infineon’s GaN business line. “The relevance of comprehensive power systems will increase, with GaN manifesting its role due to its benefits in efficiency, density and size,” he adds. “Given that cost-parity with silicon is in sight, we will see an increased adoption rate for GaN this year and beyond.”
Powering AI will be highly dependent on GaN. The rapid increase of the required computing power and energy demand in AI data centers will drive the need for advanced solutions capable of handling the substantial loads associated with AI servers. Power supplies that once managed 3.3kW are now evolving towards 5.5kW, with projections moving towards 12kW or more per unit. By leveraging GaN, AI data centers can improve power density, which directly influences the amount of computational power that can be delivered within a given rack space. While GaN presents clear advantages, hybrid approaches combining GaN with Si and SiC are ideal for meeting the requirements of AI data centers and achieving the best trade-offs between efficiency, power density and system cost, says Infineon.
In the home appliance market, Infineon expects GaN to gain significant traction, driven by the need for higher energy efficiency ratings in applications like washing machines, dryers, refrigerators and water/heat pumps. In 800W applications, for example, GaN can enable a two percent efficiency gain, which can help manufacturers achieve the coveted A ratings. According to Infineon, GaN-based on-board chargers and DC–DC converters in electric vehicles will contribute to a higher charging efficiency, power density and material sustainability, with a shift towards 20kW+ systems. Together with high-end SiC solutions, GaN will also enable more efficient traction inverters for both 400V and 800V EV systems, contributing to an increased driving range.
In 2025 and beyond, robotics will see widespread adoption of GaN supported by the material’s ability to enhance compactness, driving growth in delivery drones, care robots and humanoid robots, believes Infineon. As robotics technology integrates AI advancements like natural language processing and computer vision, GaN will provide the efficiency required for compact, high-performance designs. Integrating inverters within the motor chassis eliminates the inverter heatsink while reducing cabling to each joint/axis and simplifying EMC design.
Infineon says that it is further pushing investment in GaN R&D to overcome the challenges of cost and scalability. With innovations such as 300mm GaN wafer manufacturing and bidirectional switch (BDS) transistors, Infineon is bolstering its role in driving decarbonization and digitalization based on all relevant semiconductor materials including gallium nitride.
Infineon’s ‘2025 GaN predictions’ ebook can be downloaded here.
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