How AlpSemi Is Advancing Solid-State Circuit Breakers for AI Data Centres, Smart Buildings, and Next-Generation Power Distribution

This financing will support the industrialisation and commercial scale-up of our next-generation semiconductor power switches, purpose-built for solid-state circuit breakers (SSCBs)

We have already launched our first product, the AS800, targeting 110 VAC and 230 VAC applications in commercial and residential buildings. This marks the first milestone in a broader roadmap to scale Solid-State Circuit Breakers across high-voltage AC and DC applications, including 800V DC architectures for AI data centres, which we will address with our second product currently under development: the AS1200.

Our ambition is clear: to enable digital, software-defined power distribution by making the large-scale deployment of Solid-State Circuit Breakers possible across buildings, IA data centres, electrified industrial systems and electric vehicles.

Q. Solid-state circuit breakers are often described as a transformative technology for power distribution. What advantages do SSCBs offer over traditional electromechanical circuit breakers, and where do you see the strongest early adoption opportunities?

Every electrified system, whether a data centre, a smart building, or an electric vehicle, relies on circuit breakers to protect people, assets, and uptime.

 For the last century, that protection has been electromechanical: a moving copper bar, a magnetic coil, an arc chamber. It has been mechanical, reactive, slow (milliseconds), and limited to a few short-circuit interruptions before replacement.

Solid-state circuit breakers change the equation. There are no moving parts, no arcing, and they interrupt faults in microseconds: about 1,000x faster than mechanical systems. They don’t wear out in the same way, can switch indefinitely, and can be controlled and monitored digitally. As a result, they provide protection that matches the requirements of modern electrical architecture, especially the DC systems found in AI data centres, solar installations, electric vehicle batteries, and other applications.

But beyond this advanced protection, SSCBs are a key enabler of software-defined power distribution. They go beyond protecting electrical circuits: they make it possible to optimise energy flows, improving systems’ energy efficiency and ultimately reducing the greenhouse gas emissions associated with electricity consumption. This is why we believe they will progressively become the new standard for protecting increasingly electrified and connected infrastructures. We see the strongest adoption in commercial and residential buildings and in power-intensive markets such as AI data centres, electrified industrial systems and electric vehicles.

Q. Your technology platform spans materials, devices and systems through a vertically integrated approach. How does this strategy differentiate AlpSemi from other power semiconductor companies targeting electrification and energy infrastructure markets?

Thanks to its vertical approach, AlpSemi develops the semiconductor technology platform that finally enables the industrial scalability of Solid-State Circuit Breakers.

Our technologies are built to tackle real-world industrial challenges. Turning this ambition into reality requires innovation at every level - materials, devices and systems - to enable both scalability and rapid industrial deployment. This end-to-end, vertical engineering approach is also what allows us to move beyond incremental improvements and fundamentally redefine power protection technologies.

While the SiC / GaN industry has spent the last decade focused on materials innovation, every attempt to build an SSCB at scale using best-in-class SiC or GaN devices has failed. Not because the technology doesn’t work, but because of the economic collapse. That is why materials innovation alone is not enough: device-level and system-level disruption are both required to ensure the industrial scalability of Solid-State Circuit Breakers. To achieve this ambition, AlpSemi partnered with global industrial leaders such as Schneider Electric and Navitas from day one to co-design its products.

Q. The AS800 is designed for commercial and residential solid-state miniature circuit breakers. What market needs is this product addressing, and how do you expect demand to evolve as buildings become increasingly electrified and connected?

Buildings are becoming increasingly electrified and connected. As this transition accelerates, the need for SSCBs is becoming increasingly critical.

Legacy protection technologies - electromechanical circuit breakers - were designed for a world defined by predictable, centralised, and unidirectional AC power flows. That world no longer exists. Buildings are becoming energy hubs, integrating increasingly dynamic electrical loads: bidirectional EV charging, on-site solar generation, …

This creates a new level of complexity for power distribution. As a result, buildings’ protection systems must become faster, more precise and more intelligent. They need to detect and interrupt faults in microseconds, while also providing real-time monitoring and digital, software-defined control. This is exactly the market need AlpSemi is addressing with the AS800.

Q. AI data centres are emerging as a major target market, particularly as the industry moves towards 800V DC architectures. How can AlpSemi’s semiconductor power switches help improve efficiency, power density and protection in next-generation AI infrastructure?

AI data centres are pushing electrical infrastructure to its limits. Rack power density is increasing rapidly, and the industry is quickly transitioning to higher-voltage DC architectures, including 800V DC, to improve overall system efficiency.

In this context, protection becomes much more demanding. Faults must be detected and interrupted extremely fast, while keeping the system compact, efficient and reliable. This is exactly where AlpSemi’s power switches are becoming critical. Purpose-built to enable high-voltage solid-state protection, they strike an unmatched balance of low on-state resistance, compactness and thermal performance, helping improve the systems’ overall efficiency.

Through our roadmap, especially the AS1200, purpose-built for 800V DC architectures and currently being developed with our strategic partner Navitas Semiconductor, AlpSemi is supporting the sustainable development of AI infrastructure by turning power protection into an active enabler of energy efficiency and software-defined power distribution in one of the world’s most power-intensive markets.

Q. Looking ahead, what is your vision for AlpSemi’s role in the future of intelligent power distribution, and how do you see the global market for solid-state power protection evolving over the next decade?

By enabling the large-scale deployment of SSCBs, AlpSemi is a critical semiconductor enabler of digital, software-defined power distribution and optimised electricity consumption in power-intensive markets such as AI data centres.

 The market pull is already there. However, SSCB adoption has remained limited by the lack of semiconductor solutions that meet the semiconductor and circuit breaker industries’ requirements for size, cost, efficiency and integration. That is why we created AlpSemi: to remove this adoption barrier and turn SSCBs into an industrial reality. The global Solid-State Circuit Breaker market reached US$ 1.66 billion in 2025 and is expected to reach US$ 4.34 billion by 2035 (DATAM Intelligence).