The company said its new power delivery solution will support advanced AI chips and drastically reduce energy waste.
California-based fabless semiconductor firm AmberSemi said it has taped out a new power-delivery device for AI processors in data centers, claiming large power reductions in board-level power distribution losses. The coin-sized PowerTile mounts on the back of a server board directly beneath the processor, and, according to the company, can cut board-level power distribution losses by 85%.
The PowerTile is a 1,000-amp vertical power device that delivers current via a vertical path rather than a traditional lateral one. Measuring about 20mm x 24mm x 1.68mm – roughly the size of a quarter – the module can be used with multiple devices to scale beyond 10,000 amps. AmberSemi said it is designed to support CPUs, GPUs, FPGAs, and other high-performance processors that require large current delivery in a minimal space.
For a 500 MW AI data center, AmberSemi estimates the PowerTile can save 225 MW of power per year (worth $160 million). The company compares this to the approximate annual energy output of a small modular nuclear reactor, depending on plant capacity and capacity factor.
Mark Vena, CEO and principal analyst at SmartTech Research, said AmberSemi’s PowerTile addresses a real need in the data center.
“This is entirely on target,” Vena told Data Center Knowledge. “AmberSemi is basically saying the power path should go vertical, not sideways, by mounting a 1,000-amp device on the backside of the server board directly under the processor. That targets one of the ugliest hidden costs in AI racks: voltage drop and wasted power between the rack input and the chip.”
Data Centers Going Vertical
In an interview with Data Center Knowledge, AmberSemi CEO Thar Casey said PowerTile has been designed with future AI data center architectures in mind as processors continue to advance in performance and power needs. “The industry has recognized, based on future AI processors, that lateral power will not work,” Casey said. “We made a conscious decision to focus on future AI data centers.”
Rapidly evolving processors from Nvidia, AMD, and others are increasing pressure on data center operators to handle rising power demands. “Existing power architectures are struggling to scale with the rapidly increasing demands of next-generation AI processors, creating a bottleneck that limits system performance,” Casey said. He added that PowerTile delivers “extremely high current in a compact form factor that can be mounted beneath the processor for a shorter, more efficient power path.”
Solution to Power Crunch?
A US Department of Energy report estimates that data centers alone consumed 4.4% of US electricity in 2023 and projects a sharp rise in the coming years, with data centers potentially eating up to 12% of electricity output by 2028. Power and natural resource use have become growing concerns, delaying or halting dozens of planned data centers. According to Data Center Watch, local activism in the past two years has blocked or delayed construction for $64 billion in data centers. A National Electrical Manufacturers Association study projects that US electricity demand could grow 50% by 2050, with data center consumption increasing by 300%.
The power dilemma has become a key factor in the AI arms race as hyperscalers build out massive data centers at an unprecedented pace. AmberSemi sees its PowerTile product as one piece of the broader efficiency puzzle. “Power is now the key constraint in scaling AI infrastructure,” Casey said in an AmberSemi whitepaper. “By improving efficiency at the server level, we enable higher power density and deliver more usable energy directly to the AI processor – without requiring the power sooner from the massive new investments in power plants or grid infrastructure.”
Vena noted that solutions like PowerTile could play an important role as demand for efficiency increases, while cautioning that broader upgrades will still be necessary. “It helps, but it’s not a silver bullet,” Vena said. “If it really cuts board-level delivery losses by 85% and pushes more watts into the compute instead of heat, that lowers wasted energy per inference. But grid strain also comes from sheer demand growth, plus cooling and facility power chains, so efficiency wins like this need to stack with broader data center power and thermal upgrades.”
AmberSemi expects to start evaluation and testing with partners later this year, with initial shipping targeted for 2027.
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