At electronica 2024, Empower Semiconductor will showcase its innovative vertical power architecture, the Crescendo platform, designed for AI and high-performance computing processors, featuring its proprietary FinFast™ technology to meet the growing power needs of AI and HPC applications.
As a global leader in integrated voltage regulators (IVRs), Empower Semiconductor has been developing innovative energy management solutions. Through its patented technology, Integrated Voltage Regulator (IVR) technology, the company has succeeded in integrating dozens of components into a single IC, resulting in improved efficiency and a significant reduction in package area. This technology is important for improving system performance, reducing energy consumption, and reducing energy consumption for data-intensive applications.
Crescendo Platform: A True Vertical Power Solution
At the heart of its FinFast™ technology is the Crescendo platform, which provides a true vertical power domain of up to 3000A, delivering an unprecedented combination of system efficiency, current density, and nanosecond transient response. The advent of this platform marks a new era in power solutions that meet the demands of modern data center workloads for higher power and speed.
Limitations of traditional power architectures
As the power demand for AI chips grows exponentially, traditional lateral power solutions are no longer fit for purpose due to their slow speed, low efficiency, and large footprint. These legacy solutions require a large number of power stages and magnetics at the top of the PCB, as well as a large number of capacitor banks in the shadow area of the processor, which not only occupies the most critical power-sensitive area of the system, but also results in significant lateral transmission power losses.
Figure：Empower Semiconductor Usher AI and HPC reform
Advanced of Crescendo Platform
The Crescendo platform eliminates capacitor banks and energy storage requirements with unprecedented speed and precision by providing on-demand energy to AI chips. By eliminating capacitors, Crescendo's high-density and ultra-thin thermally enhanced packaging is able to fit into critical areas beneath the processor, providing highly efficient vertically coupled power to AI chips and eliminating lateral transmission losses.
Compared to traditional horizontal power supplies, the vertical power architecture can significantly reduce the resistance of the PDN (power distribution network) by deploying the current multiplier module directly below the processor, which in turn reduces the loss of current during transmission. This design reduces the amount of current before it flows into the power supply, and the PCB losses of the entire system are also greatly reduced.
FinFast™ Technology: A Combination of Efficiency and Speed
FinFast™ technology combines advanced silicon materials, novel control architectures, high-frequency magnetics, wide-bandwidth capacitors, and best-in-class power packaging technologies that are designed together to enable all power supply components to be fully integrated in the world's densest and most efficient AI power solutions.
Promise of Empower Semiconductor
Tim Phillips, Founder and CEO of Empower Semiconductor, said, "The accelerated power requirements of AI far outpace the scale and speed of today's lateral power solutions. In developing the Crescendo platform, Empower enabled a new generation of AI processors to achieve performance targets while running efficiently.”
Not only does the Crescendo platform provide customers with true vertical power delivery efficiency, but it also integrates power delivery directly into the processor with a total power supply density of more than 5A/mm², making Empower unique in the technology world.
