French semiconductor startup AlpSemi SAS today announced that it has raised €17 million, or about $19.5 million, in funding.

The investment was led by Paris-based private equity firm Yotta Capital. Nasdaq-listed chipmaker Navitas Semiconductor Corp., SE Ventures and Cycle Group contributed as well.

Power switches are the core components of circuit breakers, devices that can create a physical gap in a building’s electrical wiring. The gap stops the movement of electrons, a property that can be harnessed to prevent power surges from reaching sensitive equipment. When a power surge ends, the circuit breaker removes the gap and power delivery can resume.

Circuit breakers can be found in, among other systems, power distribution systems. Those are devices that data center operators use to distribute electricity to servers.

Traditional circuit breakers use a mechanical spring to create a gap in electrical wiring. AlpSemi’s power switch is an alternative to springs that doesn’t include any moving parts. Instead of mechanically interrupting the flow of electricity, it uses wide and ultra-wide bandgap semiconductors to stop electrons.

A semiconductor is a device that can turn its ability to conduct electricity on and off. Wide and ultra-wide bandgap semiconductors share that property but differ in other areas. Most notably, they can withstand significantly higher temperatures, which makes them more suitable for use in demanding environments.

AlpSemi is one of several companies that are applying wide and ultra-wide bandgap semiconductors to power management tasks. Another market player, chipmaker Infineon Technologies AG, is using the technology to make circuit breakers for cars. The company manufactures its semiconducting circuit breakers from a material called silicon carbide. It’s a mix of silicon and carbon that ranks as the second toughest material in the world after diamond.

A mechanical circuit breaker can interrupt the flow of electricity in a few millionths of a second. Semiconductor-based devices are several orders of magnitude faster, which translates into shorter power outages. That’s particularly important in data centers, where even small power supply interrupts can disrupt servers.

AlpSemi says that its the technology also has other benefits. It’s less prone to a type of malfunction called an arc flash that can cause facility damage. Additionally, the fact that AlpSemi’s devices lack moving parts such as springs reduces the need for maintenance.

The company’s first product, the AS800, is a power switch that can be used to make circuit breakers for residential and commercial buildings. AlpSemi plans to follow up the device with a more advanced power switch optimized for data centers. According to the company, the product will be optimized for an electrical writing architecture called 800 VDC that is gaining traction in artificial intelligence data centers.

“Our end-to-end engineering approach allows us to move beyond incremental improvements and fundamentally redefine power protection technologies,” said AlpSemi Chief Technology Officer Fabrice Letertre. “Our wide and ultra-wide bandgap technologies are inherently scalable across the entire semiconductor value chain, enabling a fast solid-state circuit breaker market development.”

AlpSemi will use its funding to accelerate commercialization initiatives. 

Photo: AlpSemi