Artificial Intelligence Meets Power Electronics: Why the Industry Needs to Lead the Next Wave

rtificial intelligence is transforming nearly every technology sector—but while AI often dominates headlines for its software capabilities, its future depends just as much on advances in power electronics.

Recognizing this opportunity, Power Sources Manufacturers Association (PSMA) has launched an AI Committee dedicated to exploring how artificial intelligence can accelerate innovation throughout the power electronics ecosystem while highlighting the industry's essential role in enabling the AI revolution itself

AI: More Than Just Another Design Tool

For years, engineers have relied on increasingly sophisticated simulation and design software. AI represents the next evolution, with the potential to dramatically shorten development cycles and discover solutions that traditional approaches may never identify.

Among the committee's initial focus areas are AI-assisted design and simulation. Machine learning is beginning to automate magnetic component design, accelerate finite element and SPICE simulations, optimize converter topologies, and enable digital twins for power modules. These capabilities promise to reduce engineering effort while allowing designers to explore far larger design spaces than previously practical. Furthermore, engineers can quickly explore and evaluate various design scenarios without the hassle of building a prototype. For example, digital twins allow evaluations that are too difficult, expensive or unsafe to conduct such as in high pressure undersea or high radiation space applications.

Rather than replacing engineers, AI is poised to become a powerful engineering assistant—handling repetitive optimization tasks while allowing designers to focus on innovation and system-level challenges.

Accelerating Materials Discovery

Power electronics performance is increasingly constrained by advances in materials. Whether developing improved magnetic core materials, next-generation dielectric materials for capacitors, or higher-performance thermal interface materials, discovering new material systems has traditionally required lengthy experimental cycles.

Artificial intelligence offers a new path forward.

By analyzing vast experimental datasets and identifying promising material combinations, AI can significantly accelerate research into core materials, capacitors, thermal management, and manufacturing processes. AI-guided synthesis and characterization could reduce years of experimentation into months, speeding innovation across the industry. 

Smarter Manufacturing

The factory floor is another area where AI is expected to have immediate impact.

Machine learning techniques can improve yield prediction, identify manufacturing anomalies before they become costly failures, optimize electroplating processes, and enable adaptive process control that continuously improves production quality. These applications build upon the industry's existing investments in automation while making manufacturing systems increasingly intelligent and self-optimizing. 

For manufacturers operating in highly competitive markets, even small improvements in yield or process stability can translate into significant financial benefits. While the potential for AI is good, it can still misinform or produce negative outcomes, so the industry still needs active steps to overcome these challenges.

AI Is Also a Fast-Growing Driver for Power Electronics

Perhaps the most compelling aspect of the committee's vision is that AI is not only a tool for improving power electronics—it is also becoming one of the industry's largest growth drivers.

The explosive expansion of AI infrastructure is creating unprecedented demand for efficient power delivery. High-performance AI accelerators require sophisticated voltage regulation with cutting-edge transient performance, higher power densities, advanced packaging technologies, and increasingly intelligent power management.

The committee identifies predictive converter control (with load forecasting), intelligent energy management, and power optimization for data centers and EV charging as key application areas. At the same time, understanding AI accelerator power demands and their implications for intermediate voltage regulation (IVR), point-of-load (PoL) converters, and packaging density positions power electronics at the center of AI hardware development.

In many ways, AI's future computing capability depends directly on advances in power electronics.

Expanding the Industry Ecosystem

AI also presents an opportunity to broaden collaboration across industries.

PSMA envisions engaging electronic design automation (EDA) companies developing AI-powered engineering tools, semiconductor manufacturers applying AI to process control, hyperscale cloud providers building massive AI computing clusters, and AI chip developers whose products depend on increasingly advanced power delivery solutions.

Bringing these communities together could foster new partnerships while expanding the influence of the power electronics industry in emerging technology sectors.

Building Knowledge and Best Practices

Beyond technology development, education will be central to the committee's mission.

Plans include webinars, tutorials, workshops at conferences such as APEC and PCIM, curated technical resources, and industry guidance on AI model validation, benchmarking methodologies, and data-sharing frameworks. As AI adoption accelerates, establishing common best practices will help ensure that machine learning becomes a reliable engineering tool rather than simply another technology trend. 

The committee is also considering longer-term initiatives such as an industry white paper on AI applications in power electronics, member surveys to benchmark AI adoption, dedicated conference sessions, online resource hubs, and speaker series featuring researchers from academia, national laboratories, and industry. 

Looking Ahead

The AI committee's immediate priorities include recruiting participants, finalizing its mission, and refining technical focus areas. Join the committee's regular monthly meetings to shape the direction by emailing power@psma.com.

Artificial intelligence is rapidly becoming both a transformative engineering capability and one of the strongest drivers of demand for advanced power electronics. It has its challenges to overcome. Organizations that understand both sides of this relationship—using AI to develop better power systems while supplying the technology that powers AI itself—will be well positioned to lead the next generation of innovation.

For the power electronics community, the message is clear: AI is no longer simply another technology. It is becoming a defining force shaping the future of the industry.

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