Power Board Amplifies Data Center Architecture
What if data center power could skip a step? A new board enables direct conversion, cutting stages, reducing losses, and changing how systems are built.
Navitas Semiconductor has introduced a DC-DC power delivery board that converts 800 V directly to 6 V in a single stage, removing the 48 V intermediate bus converter from server power architectures. The design targets AI data centers and supports platforms such as those from NVIDIA that are moving toward 800 VDC distribution.
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The change addresses an issue in data centers, where 54 V rack power systems are no longer sufficient for AI workloads. As rack power levels increase, NVIDIA is driving a transition to 800 VDC infrastructure to improve efficiency and scalability.
Navitas had earlier introduced an 800 V to 50 V DC-DC platform, which improved power density but still required an additional conversion stage to supply voltage regulator modules operating at 12 V or below. The new board removes this step by enabling direct 800 V to 6 V or 12 V conversion, reducing power losses and simplifying the architecture. It also lowers the conversion ratio for downstream regulators, improving their performance.
The power delivery board is designed for rack systems such as NVIDIA MGX architectures, which require higher compute and power density. It delivers up to 96.5% efficiency at full load, operates at a 1 MHz switching frequency, and achieves a power density of 2,100 W per cubic inch. Its form factor allows placement near GPU boards, improving transient response and power delivery.
On the hardware side, the design uses sixteen 650 V GaNFast FETs in a stacked full-bridge configuration on the primary side, along with 25 V silicon MOSFETs on the secondary side. High-frequency switching enables smaller passive components and planar magnetics, increasing power density.
“With our industry-leading 800 V-to-6 V DC-DC PDB, Navitas is setting a new benchmark for data center power architectures. By eliminating an entire conversion stage, we lower system cost and power losses while freeing up valuable board space, enabling customers to dedicate more real estate to compute, memory, and GPUs and to unlock maximum performance for AI workloads,” said Chris Allexandre, President and CEO of Navitas Semiconductor. “Our latest GaNFast based solution shows how Navitas is pushing the boundaries of AI data center power.”
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