Six Industry Trends Shaping Precision Power Innovation

Advanced Energy addresses six trends influencing precision power: AI, the semiconductor industry, energy efficiency, electrification, industrial automation, and medical equipment innovation. Their solutions enhance power density, efficiency, and reliability across sectors, meeting the growing demands for advanced technology and reduction in electricity consumption.

Across many industries, efficient delivery of electric power is a fundamental requirement to drive better results and performance. In recent years, the need for more precise power delivery has influenced innovation and development of the power conversion market.

In this blog, we explore six macro trends that are influencing the precision power market and discuss how the industry – and how Advanced Energy (AE) in particular – will address them.

Let’s start with the most talked about demand driver – artificial intelligence or AI. Not a day goes by without the mention of AI in the news. AI is a generational technology with the potential to impact the world more than other technologies including PCs, smartphones, the internet, or cloud computing. An analysis of data from the International Energy Agency (IEA) by Goldman Sachs suggests AI data center power consumption in the U.S. alone will exceed 1,000 TWh by 2030, which is equivalent to Japan’s total electricity consumption today.

When we look at power, the impact from AI is two-fold.

Advanced Energy addresses these challenges with its broad portfolio of industry-leading power solutions through its:

According to consulting firm McKinsey, the semiconductor industry revenue is on track to reach $1 trillion by 2030, driven by the increasingly connected and digitalized world. The expected broadening of AI use cases – from data center AI to edge AI – is expected to drive further growth across many types of semiconductor devices.

To meet this growing demand, wafer fabrication technologies will continue to evolve with ever smaller and more advanced process nodes, reaching the Angstrom Era where process nodes shrink to below 2 nanometers (1 angstrom = 1/10 of a nanometer; a sheet of paper is roughly 100,000 nanometers thick).

Beyond process power, AE also provides a wide range of high voltage power, system power, sensing and control solutions to support various types of wafer processing and back-end test equipment. With a long legacy of serving the semiconductor industry, AE continues to provide innovative precision power solutions that meet the stringent requirements of semiconductor manufacturing.

Increasing energy production alone is not enough to mitigate rising global energy consumption. Reducing electricity consumption costs requires adopting more energy-efficient products to reduce demand. As the demand for better efficiency grows, 80 PLUS^® (power supply certification program) updated its top energy efficiency standard this year with 80 PLUS Ruby, the first update since 2011.

Data Center is quickly becoming one of the biggest industries for energy consumption, and therefore, continued power efficiency improvement is vitally important. AE is at the forefront of innovation in data center power supply units (PSUs) with efficiencies approaching 98%, substantially better than the vast majority of power supplies in the market.

Beyond data center, industrial applications such as large capital equipment or battery-powered equipment also require high efficiency to maximize power consumption and extend operating life. Advanced Energy leads the industry with a number of high efficiency industrial and medical products. For example, its Evergreen Vento FCM systems of high-power, high-density power supplies and modular shelves deliver over 95% conversion efficiency with 0.98 power factor correction. Similarly, AE’s Artesyn^® power factor correction module delivers up to 97.3% conversion efficiency for non-isolated 400 VDC output used in a wide range of applications.

The lighting industry has largely transitioned from incandescent light to LED-based lamps, but more can be done to improve energy efficiency in large-scale installations. AE’s innovative centralized power distributed solutions for high-bay warehouses or indoor farms provide our customers with increased efficiency and reliability for their entire lighting system, while at the same time lowering installation and maintenance costs.

Beyond efficiency, another energy-related macro trend is electrification. Electrification is the transition from the use of fossil fuels to electricity as a direct energy source due to both environmental concerns such as greenhouse gases emissions and in some cases more efficient uses of energy.

Electric Vehicles (EVs). As the transportation industry is responsible for 28% of all U.S. greenhouse gas emissions (source EPA), the most well-known electrification trend is the rise of EVs, offering a more sustainable alternative to traditional internal combustion engine vehicles.

Along the EV manufacturing supply chain, from battery charging and testing to EV production testing, Advanced Energy’s portfolio of solutions allows our customers in the automotive and related industries to meet the stringent testing and certification requirements in their production lines.

Railway. Beyond EV, electrification is also transitioning railway toward more efficient, reduced emission, lower operating cost, and quieter trains. Modernizing train systems worldwide drives precision power demand. Examples of this can be found in AE’s railway solution here.

Steel and Glass Manufacturing. According to the World Steel Association, the steel industry’s use of gas-powered arc furnaces is responsible for around 8% of global emissions. Electric-powered arc furnaces for recycling steel is significantly more efficient, with EU figures suggesting it uses 72% less energy per ton produced, as well as reducing CO2 emissions by 58% and water usage by 40%.

Products such as AE’s power controllers, the Thyro-PX Modular Solution, are helping to speed the migration and significantly reduce the steel industry’s emissions.

 

Automation technologies such as robots, automation machines, and control systems are being widely implemented across sectors, including manufacturing, automotive, and electronics. The recent macro trends of increased onshoring and reshoring of manufacturing in developed countries such as the U.S. have accelerated adoption of automation to maintain competitiveness.

AI is enabling new automation technologies, such as autonomous robots, collaborative robots or “cobots”, and humanoid robots to further improve productivity and efficiency. Here Advanced Energy has a track record in providing high performance precision power conversion solutions to meet the growing and evolving needs of these new industrial automation systems.

Medical equipment innovation is rapidly evolving, driven by advancements in technology and increased demand for improved patient outcomes. Earlier this year, my colleague Dr. Simone Baer-Lang wrote a blog post capturing some of the trends she sees in the medical device space. One of the key takeaways from her post is that medical innovation will continue to accelerate, and every company serving this space needs to find new ways to help the industry advance.

At Advanced Energy, we consistently create new solutions to help our customers shorten their time to market. Examples of our medical products include:

These products are designed to provide reliable and efficient power solutions that comply with stringent medical standards, ensuring the safety and effectiveness of medical devices.

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