Navitas debuts 97.5% efficient board

Navitas Semiconductor is using PCIM Europe this week to press a specific argument about AI infrastructure: power conversion is becoming a front-line constraint alongside GPU supply. On May 18, the company said it would showcase a 20-kilowatt board that converts 800 volts directly to 6 volts and targets 97.5% peak efficiency at full load. Navitas said the design eliminates the traditional 48-volt intermediate bus converter stage, a change it says can improve system efficiency, reliability, cost and compute density. (navitassemi.com 1) (navitassemi.com 2) That claim sits inside a broader shift in AI infrastructure markets. The Information reported on May 18 that startup Barkr is trying to make Nvidia GPUs into “boring” bankable assets through financing structures around expensive hardware. (navitassemi.com) Forbes reported the same day that 750,000 Nvidia H200 chips tied to a failed China deal could be redirected into other markets. ### Why is a power board getting attention in the AI buildout? Navitas has been developing 800-volt high-voltage direct-current architectures with Nvidia since 2025, when it said the work was aimed at 1-megawatt IT racks and beyond. The new 20-kilowatt board is one piece of that architecture, moving power closer to the GPU board and reducing the number of conversion steps. (navitassemi.com) A March 16 Navitas release said the same 800V-to-6V board was first shown at Nvidia GTC 2026. In that release, the company said direct conversion in one power stage could improve reliability, cost and compute density by removing the 48V stage used in conventional designs. (theinformation.com) ### What exactly is Navitas showing at PCIM? PCIM Europe materials from Navitas list two AI data-center products: the 20-kilowatt 800V-to-6V GaN-based power delivery board and a 10-kilowatt 800V-to-50V DC-DC full-brick platform. The company also said it would show silicon-carbide products tied to grid and energy infrastructure. Navitas said the 20-kilowatt board is aimed at 97.5% peak efficiency, while a product sheet published in April described the platform as targeting up to 96.5% peak efficiency at full load and 1 MHz switching frequency. (navitassemi.com) The company’s first-quarter results, published last week, repeated the 97.5% target. That suggests Navitas is still framing the figure as a target tied to the latest board configuration and show demonstrations. (navitassemi.com) ### Where do Barkr and the H200 story fit in? The Information’s May 18 item described Barkr as a startup trying to turn GPUs into financeable infrastructure assets. The premise is that scarce, expensive Nvidia hardware can be packaged in ways lenders and investors understand more easily, broadening who can fund compute capacity. (navitassemi.com) Forbes’ Jon Markman wrote on May 18 that 750,000 H200 chips from a failed China transaction could be redirected into a global market that remains short of AI compute. Forbes said those chips would likely find buyers among hyperscalers and sovereign purchasers already competing for supply. ### What does that add up to for cloud and data-center operators? (navitassemi.com) The combined picture is that AI infrastructure bottlenecks are spreading across three layers at once: electrical efficiency, hardware financing and chip allocation. Navitas is pitching lower-loss power delivery inside the rack; Barkr is addressing how buyers fund scarce accelerators; and the H200 overhang shows how geopolitics can reshuffle where chips land. (theinformation.com) For operators, that means planning is no longer only about securing GPUs. It also means tracking how many conversion stages sit between facility power and the processor, what financing structure supports the hardware purchase, and how quickly chip supply can be rerouted across regions when a major deal fails. That is an inference from the three reports taken together. (forbes.com) ### What happens next? PCIM Europe is the next public checkpoint. Navitas said it will exhibit the 20-kilowatt 800V-to-6V board and the 10-kilowatt 800V-to-50V platform there this week in Nuremberg, after first showing the direct-conversion board at Nvidia GTC in March. (navitassemi.com) (navitassemi.com)