The world is in the middle of a deepening energy crisis. Disruption of gas deliveries arising from Russia’s war on Ukraine has added to the already tight power supply due to the pandemic, leading to skyrocketing energy prices and inflation. During New Year celebrations, many may have made a wish that a superhero could help with electricity bills and save the planet. Alas, Iron Man is here to help. Robert Downey Jr, who protected the world with his high-tech suit of armor in the movie, launched “FootPrint Coalition” to invest in sustainable tech startups that address climate and energy challenges. As energy consumption is growing exponentially, calls for technology innovations to achieve sustainable development are ringing loudly.
We are consuming more power nowadays and creating bigger carbon footprints. The increasing adoption of 5G and digitalization have spurred demand for electrical devices and connectivity. Each time you post, share or stream something on the internet, you are in contact with one or more data centers, which are energy-intensive to build and use. Data centers need electricity to run equipment and keep machines cool. Currently there are 7.2 million data centers across the globe and their use of electricity is almost as high as that of the entire U.K. In fact, the need for data centers is so strong that they now account for more than 2% of global energy consumption—equivalent to the aviation industry—and that share is projected to rise to 8% by 2030.
While increasing utilization of renewable energy like solar power has contributed to making data centers greener, it only solves part of the problem. What yields more is to improve energy efficiency and save power by relying on green computing solutions. For example, power management chips such as 48V are increasingly adopted to replace the traditional 12V. This facilitates a higher percentage of power delivered to the server, resulting in less energy being wasted as heat and lower data center cooling requirements. The reduction of electricity use from green computing solutions is estimated to be equivalent to planting approximately eight billion trees to offset CO2 emissions. U.S. firm Monolithic Power Systems is one of the leading providers of power management systems. We believe it will benefit from global decarbonization efforts underpinned by its highly differentiated power solutions.
Monolithic Power Systems
Everyone loves a story of a visionary who against all odds becomes an innovator. One of the biggest innovators of the 21st century, Michael Hsing, left his country to pursue his passion in engineering without even speaking the language of his new home. Firm in his belief that an entire power system could be integrated onto a single chip, Michael founded Monolithic Power Systems (MPS) in 1997 to execute his vision. Today, MPS is a leader in its field, delivering high-performance power solutions with over 4,000 products across cloud computing, telecom infrastructure, automotive, industrial and consumer applications.
MPS has consistently challenged industry standards. In 2013, MPS introduced the industry’s first cost-effective Monolithic Power Module, which truly integrates an entire power system onto a single package. This enhanced system performance and eliminated iterative design efforts. As chips become increasingly complex and space on motherboards becomes more precious, MPS’ solution has become widely sought after. Apart from its groundbreaking product design, MPS also has developed its own proprietary manufacturing process, enabling it to stay ahead of the pack and lead the power semiconductor industry.
With growing concerns over the energy crisis and climate change, the positive impact of MPS’ innovation is tangible. Its energy-efficient and green technologies help save 4.3TWh of electricity annually, the equivalent of taking over 600,000 passenger cars off the road. By providing the highest power density products in the industry, MPS helps large data center customers such as Nvidia and AMD to meet their energy goals. Taking it a step further, MPS has revamped the data center’s power system architecture to reduce energy loss. It has managed to lift the existing power architecture standard from 12V to 48V, thereby lowering electric current and thus reducing distribution power loss by 16x.
Testament to MPS’ strong chip design expertise and innovative enabling technologies, the company has consistently delivered 20% sales growth p.a. over the last 10 years. We are positive on MPS’ strong leadership and believe it is well positioned to ride on multiple industry tailwinds to come.
