The Ubiquity of Wide Band-Gap Technology

­Welcome to the February issue!

We’re a mere month away from the Applied Power Electronics Conference (APEC), and I’ve started hearing hints and rumblings of the premier event for power design professionals.

A large event that attracts over 300 exhibitors and more than 6,000 attendees and which “focuses on the practical and applied aspects of the power electronics business”? Yes, please!

Naturally, the PSD crew will be there, and the biggest treat is seeing the engineers, executives, hobbyists, and marcom professionals that we only deal with virtually the other 51 weeks per year!

Catching up with old friends (both literally and figuratively), schmoozing with colleagues and co-conspirators, and meeting new faces and fresh blood. APEC is many things, but networking is one of the key benefits, if not the primary reason for holding an event like this in the first place (in-person, anyway).

And speaking of APEC, February’s issue highlights a topic that’s dominated the show for years now, and judging by the surging popularity of items like electric vehicles, 5G infrastructure, and smart grids (amongst other applications) – wide-bandgap technology.

I could toss some figures at you – like the global wide-bandgap market’s approximate value of $2.5 billion, or that it’s expected to grow at a CAGR of 12.6% from 2026 to 2032. I could explain why the electrification of global automotive fleets – and self-imposed and mandated deadlines for going net-zero and/or fully electric.

But I’d rather turn the mic towards the audience and highlight the great work being done by the community (and the thought leaders driving it all), like a PSDcast last year that explained how “Wide Band-Gap Devices Support Power Density in EV and Hybrid Vehicles.” Or my colleague Ally Winning’s TechTalk column, which several months back, detailed Power Integrations new white paper discussing a GaN solution for Nvidia’s 800V data center power delivery system.

And speaking of Ally, he also explained recently how 300mm gallium nitride fabrication could close the competitive gap between GaN and silicon, while our esteemed columnist, TSC, America’s Kevin Parmenter gave a terrific primer on how wide bandgap materials, “characterized by a larger energy bandgap (typically greater than 2.0 eV), are revolutionizing the field of power electronics.”

Of course, there’s also been no shortage of wide band-gap news, like ­onsemi signing a collaboration agreement with Global Foundries to develop and manufacture advanced gallium nitride (GaN) power products using GF’s 200mm eMode GaN-on-silicon process.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again – wide band-gap technology is everywhere you turn, and I look forward to a lot more GaN and SiC in 2026 and at this year’s APEC!

Best Regards,

Jason Lomberg

North American Editor, PSD