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At its investor day today, onsemi is introducing the Embedded Power Platform (EPP), a power-integration approach that embeds heterogeneous power dies into silicon and connects them through wafer-level redistribution layers instead of wire bonds. onsemi is positioning EPP for vehicle electrification and AI power infrastructure, where power density has become a hard constraint and the traditional practice of optimizing electrical, thermal, and mechanical design separately has run out of room. Subaru has signed on as the first strategic technology engagement partner and will receive early access to engineering samples and simulation models. While that is the automotive side, it sounds like the first major use case will be targeting 800V DC AI racks. As a fun aside, onsemi’s headquarters is about 10 minutes from STH’s studio. onsemi Embedded Power Platform Announced onsemi frames the launch around power density. AI, automotive, and industrial markets are demanding more power in less space, and designers must improve efficiency while managing heat, size, and cost at the same time. When electrical, mechanical, and thermal systems are tuned separately, improvements in one area create trade-offs elsewhere and force costly late-stage design changes. This is something that onsemi reiterated on a call with us. EPP is built around a silicon embedded package. Heterogeneous power dies sit directly in silicon and connect through wafer-level redistribution layers, replacing wire-bonded interconnects. Rather than treating electrical, mechanical, and thermal behavior as separate problems, EPP co-develops them from the outset. onsemi says the platform is technology-agnostic and scales across semiconductor materials and power levels. Under the hood, wafer-level metallization replaces wire bonds with precision redistribution layers, bringing semiconductor-fab precision to the interconnects and lowering parasitic inductance for better device control and higher switching frequencies. onsemi supports silicon, SiC, GaN, and future technologies in configurable power-device combinations, and it integrates drivers and controllers directly with the power devices to reduce system-level complexity. Its silicon-based package builds on proven fab (in upstate NY, not far from where we did our IBM Z17 video last year) and simulation infrastructure, which onsemi says shortens time to market and provides high-voltage isolation along with a lower-resistance thermal path. onsemi highlights thermal and electrical gains. Full-footprint thermal conduction improves heat dissipation and supports higher continuous power operation, while high-voltage isolation integrated in the package cuts reliance on thermally inefficient insulating materials. Shorter, more controlled electrical paths lower parasitic inductance, and digital twin simulation with multi-physics co-optimization lets engineers iterate designs quickly, reducing hardware builds and shortening development cycles. onsemi targets vehicle electrification and AI power infrastructure first. Lower inductance enables faster switching, and full-footprint thermal conduction supports smaller, lighter traction inverters that scale across vehicle platforms. In AI data centers, higher power density frees board and rack space and enables thermally efficient, compact power delivery. Beyond those two markets, the architecture also covers fast-charging infrastructure, energy storage, grid modernization, and industrial automation. Subaru has entered a strategic technology engagement with onsemi to evaluate EPP for next-generation vehicle architectures. onsemi is giving Subaru early access to engineering samples, simulation models, and technical expertise, and the collaboration is exploring whether an integrated power design can improve efficiency and simplify development. This is a customer evaluation engagement since automotive usually has a longer design cycle. In the AI data center, we asked, and there was a really neat use case. The company told us to imagine an electromechanical breaker for a several-hundred-kW 800V rack. Instead of something so large, imagine this solution as a much smaller digital breaker, with a way to easily liquid-cool (or air-cool) it, control it, and get telemetry data out of the assembly. Final Words For STH readers, the AI power infrastructure part is the interesting one. We recently covered Wiwynn and TE Connectivity’s liquid-cooled 800V DC busbars, which address delivering power through the rack. EPP addresses a different part of that problem by integrating power devices, interconnects, and control functions within a package. AI racks are getting denser, so optimization for next-generation racks is going beyond GPUs, NICs, CPUs, switches, storage, and liquid cooling and into power delivery. Interestingly, 800V platforms are being leveraged across automotive and AI data centers.
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