About the Debate Sessions
Every year, the APEC Committee handpicks a handful of hot topics and brings together a panel of distinguished experts to engage in a dynamic exchange of views. The Debate Sessions, formerly called RAP Sessions, are structured around pivotal questions designed to spark debate, ensuring a representation of diverse perspectives. Kickstarting the session with introductory remarks from our panelists, we then open the floor to you—our audience of specialists—to weigh in with your insights, challenge the experts, and steer the conversation with your questions. Get ready for an invigorating exchange of ideas that is as informative as it is animated and walk away with a deeper understanding of the latest trends and controversies in power electronics.
APEC 2027 Debate Sessions
Date: Tuesday, March 9, 2027
Time: 4:30 PM – 6:00 PM
Location: TBA
The APEC 2027 Debate Sessions continue APEC’s long history of presenting the most important current topics in power electronics. Leading engineers and researchers each present their thoughts on where power electronics is headed and then the audience is invited to join the discussion. This is a unique opportunity to learn about the leading edge in power electronics engineering.
Debate Session 1: Integrated Voltage Regulators (IVRs): Roadmaps and Roadblocks
Chair: Cian Ó Mathúna – Director, Tyndall National Institute
The AI era is driving a revolution in the need for vertical integration of granular power delivery to processors with roadmaps suggesting current requirements of up to 10,000 Amps at current densities of up to 10 A/mm2.
In the past, the semiconductor industry created high-performance computing which then handed over to other parts of the supply chain to deliver the packaging, the power and the thermal management to enable commercial product. AI has upended this ecosystem with the semiconductor companies now having to take responsibility for the heterogenous integration of chip-lets, interposers, and package substrates that can deliver high performance for signals, power, thermal management and most recently co-packaged optics.
This session will explore the viability of current roadmaps from both a performance and supply chain perspective. It will also consider the technological and manufacturing roadblocks that may ultimately challenge the industry to deliver.
Debate Session 2: Solid State Transformers (SSTs): Now or Never?
Chair: Johann W. Kolar – Professor, ETH Zurich
The rapid growth of AI data centers and the transition toward megawatt-scale power consumption of individual IT racks demand a fundamental redesign of power distribution architectures. Conventional low-frequency transformer-based medium-voltage interfaces face increasing limitations in scalability, material usage, and delivery times, while today’s 48/54 VDC in-rack distribution becomes impractical at megawatt power levels. The emerging transition toward 800 VDC rack supply, combined with Solid-State Transformers (SSTs), opens a pathway toward medium-voltage AC-to-low-voltage DC conversion and ultimately MVAC or MVDC distribution closer to the IT racks. However, today’s fully modular industrial SST demonstrators achieve power densities of only about 0.2 MW/m³ at efficiencies around 98.5%, comparable to conventional transformer-rectifier solutions. Emerging single-stage SST topologies promise to break this barrier, targeting 1 MW/m³ at 99% efficiency. But can SSTs match the proven reliability and durability of line-frequency transformers? And which combination of AC/DC distribution, protection, and SST architecture ultimately provides the best system solution? This debate will examine whether SST technology is ready for mainstream adoption, or whether decisive breakthroughs will occur over the next decade.
Debate Session 3: Where will future power electronics breakthroughs come from: Academia or Industry?
Chair: Thomas M. Jahns – Professor, University of Wisconsin (Madison)
Where will tomorrow’s major power electronics innovations come from?…industry or university? Industry advocates point to corporate research facilities as the birthplace of many of today’s power semiconductor devices dating back to the first thyristors, while academic advocates counter with evidence that many of the most popular power converter topologies in wide use today originated in university laboratories. However, that’s all past history and the research landscape look very different today. Industrial and academic research enterprises have changed significantly during the past 25 years, raising serious questions about the future of power electronics research and where it will be conducted. Please come for a lively discussion of the pros and cons, opportunities and threats associated with power electronics research in both industrial and academic environments, as well as clues for prospective researchers seeking the most promising career path in this exciting, but fast-evolving field.