Power management chips from TI maximize protection, density, and efficiency for modern DCs

Texas Instruments (TI) debuted new power-management chips to support the rapidly growing power needs of modern data centers. As the adoption of high-performance computing and artificial intelligence (AI) increases, data centers require more power-dense and efficient solutions.

TI's new TPS1685 is the industry's first 48V integrated hot-swap eFuse with power-path protection to support data center hardware and processing needs. To simplify data center design, TI also introduced a new family of integrated GaN power stages, the LMG3650R035, LMG3650R025and LMG3650R070, in industry-standard TOLL packaging. TI is showcasing these devices at the 2025 Applied Power Electronics Conference (APEC), March 16-20, in Atlanta, Georgia.

"With data centers increasingly demanding more energy, powering the world's digital infrastructure begins with smarter, more efficient semiconductors," said Robert Taylor, GM, Industrial Power Design Services. "While advanced chips drive AI's computational power, analog semiconductors are key to maximizing energy efficiency. Our latest power-management innovations are enabling data centers to reduce their environmental footprint while supporting the growing needs of our digital world."

Reach power levels beyond 6kW with intelligent system protection 
As power demands surge, data center designers are shifting to 48V power architectures for enhanced efficiency and scalability to support components such as CPUs, graphics processing units and AI hardware accelerators.

TI's 48V stackable integrated hot-swap eFuse with power-path protection empowers designers to tackle high-power (>6kW) processing needs with a scalable device that simplifies design and reduces solution size by half compared to existing hot-swap controllers in the market.

Achieve higher efficiency with TI GaN in industry-standard packaging
In addition, TI introduced a new family of integrated GaN power stages. The LMG3650R035, LMG3650R070 and LMG3650R025 leverage the benefits of TI GaN in an industry-standard TOLL package, allowing designers to take advantage of TI GaN efficiency without costly and time-consuming redesigns.

The new power stages integrate a high-performance gate driver with a 650V GaN field-effect transistor (FET) while achieving high efficiency (>98%) and high-power density (>100W/in3). They also integrate advanced protection features including over-current protection, short-circuit protection and over-temperature protection. This is especially important for AC/DC applications like server power, where designers are challenged to push more power into smaller spaces.

Reimagining power density and efficiency at APEC 2025
At APEC 2025, TI showcased power solutions that enable designers to reimagine new levels of power density and efficiency, including:

Dell's 1.8kW server power-supply unit (PSU) with TI GaN power stages: Dell's first high-efficiency 12V PSU design uses a TI integrated GaN power stage. The PSU features a GaN FET with built-in driver, protection and temperature reporting to achieve over 96% system-level efficiency.

Vertiv's 5.5kW server PSU: Part of Vertiv's PowerDirect Rack DC power system, the latest PSU from Vertiv is powered by TI GaN technology to deliver up to 132kW per rack.

Greatwall's 8kW PSU: To help designers increase power density, Greatwall and TI co-developed an 8kW open-rack PSU using TI GaN technology and TI C2000 real-time MCUs.