Siemens and Infineon will use silicon carbide (SiC) technology to advance electrical protection in data centres and AI factories.
The 62mm CoolSiC MOSFET power modules will be supplied by Infineon, for Siemens to use in its SENTRON 3QD2 semiconductor circuit breakers. This will enhance the efficiency, power density and reliability of Siemens’s protection solution.
“AI data centres and factories are becoming increasingly electrified and complex. This increases vulnerability to electrical failures and drives the demand for more sustainable, efficient and reliable power distribution systems. By combining our advanced silicon carbide technology with Siemens’s expertise in power distribution, we are addressing this demand to ensure fast, safe and reliable operations in power-critical environments,” said Andreas Weisl, Executive Vice President & Chief Sales Officer of Industrial and Infrastructure at Infineon.
A semiconductor circuit breaker is a solid-state circuit breaker that protects electrical circuits from damage caused by excessive current flow, such as short circuits or overloads. Unlike traditional electromechanical circuit breakers, which rely on mechanical parts to interrupt the flow of current and typically operate on the millisecond scale, the Siemens SENTRON 3QD2 uses semiconductor components and smart protection algorithms to perform this function. This enables ultra-fast interruption in the microsecond range, up to 1,000 times faster than conventional systems. This capability is essential for direct current (DC) grids and offers a significant increase in protection and system availability, which is crucial in applications like industrial manufacturing and AI data centres, where even a slight delay can cause costly downtime, data loss or expensive hardware damage in the event of electrical failures.
A demo showcase of the Siemens SENTRON 3QD2 semiconductor circuit breaker will be exhibited at the Infineon booth (hall 7, booth 470) at PCIM Europe 2026 in Nuremberg from 9 to 11 June.
