Packaging innovation in the AI era has reached the doorsteps of power electronics. A new architecture uses the silicon wafer itself as the package foundation to enable a highly integrated approach to power system design. It optimizes electrical, mechanical, and thermal design together from the outset to help designers achieve higher power density and improve system performance.
Embedded Power Platform (EPP) unveiled by onsemi claims to have reimagined the package from passive housing into an active contributor to power design performance. It enables a seamless integration and interconnection of silicon, silicon carbide (SiC), and gallium nitride (GaN) technologies within a highly integrated wafer-level architecture.
Figure 1 In EPP, heterogeneous dies are embedded in silicon and connected through wafer-level redistribution layers. Source: onsemi
“For decades, the semiconductor and the package have been treated as separate technologies,” noted Hassane El-Khoury, President and CEO of onsemi. “EPP changes that by making the silicon itself part of the system architecture.” It does that by combining advanced semiconductor technologies, manufacturing, and system-level optimization into a single power design.
The AI era is creating new infrastructure challenges that computing power alone can’t solve. Take data centers, for instance, where design engineers must move and manage more electricity in server racks while controlling heat, efficiency, cost, and development time. That limits how much compute capacity can fit within a rack.
That’s mainly because traditional power system design approaches treat power electronics, mechanical design, and thermal design as separate engineering challenges. As a result, each layer is optimized independently and sequentially, so decisions made at one stage can create compromises in another. That, in turn, leads to additional engineering iterations, costly late-stage changes, and longer development cycles.
EPP replaces the sequential model with a common platform that can be co-designed, co-simulated, and co-optimized. That transforms it into a technology-agnostic platform that supports different applications and semiconductor materials while scaling across multiple power levels. As a result, multiple devices such as FETs, drivers, and controllers can be embedded together in a single package and co-optimized for electrical, thermal, and mechanical performance.
Figure 2 EPP claims to introduce a fundamentally new approach to how power is delivered, managed, and optimized. Source: onsemi
This enables tighter electrical coupling, combines power and control in a single platform, and reduces system-level complexity. According to onsemi, in a solid-state circuit-breaker design, the EPP-based solution was approximately 50% smaller and 20% cooler than existing designs.
Beyond data center power
Carmaker Subaru—an early engagement partner for EPP—is working with onsemi to evaluate how the platform could support future electrified vehicle architectures. Subaru will gain early access to engineering samples, simulation models, and technical expertise as the two companies explore opportunities to improve vehicle performance and streamline development.
Efficiency losses, thermal limitations, development complexity, and system size often constrain EV traction inverters. Here, EPP’s scalable architecture helps develop a single inverter platform that spans low-end to high-end vehicle applications. This lets carmakers reuse a common design across multiple vehicle models and power classes, reducing R&D and manufacturing costs, accelerating qualification and development cycles, improving vehicle range, and lowering system costs.
As AI, automotive, and industrial markets drive demand for more power in less space, a new architecture claims to redefine system power delivery by integrating multiple dies into a single silicon device. EPP also claims to enable 3 – 5x higher power density than current solutions through a highly integrated approach to power system design.
These claims will surely be tested in data center and EV power designs, where designers must improve efficiency while managing heat, size, and cost. EPP is expected to begin sampling in 2026 with strategic customers and ecosystem participants across automotive and AI applications.
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