On the Eve of the AIDC Explosion, How SST Defines New Global Energy Standards? Recently, Zhao Wenjian (Vincent), Global Marketing Director of Weiguang Energy, engaged in an in-depth live dialogue with Gary Lawrence, a global energy leader at Schneider Electric. The conversation delved into the core value of Solid State Transformers (SST)—from their technological essence and global markets to the future ecosystem—exploring the ultimate path for energy supply in the AI era. Given the enthusiastic response to the live stream, we have compiled the key insights and highlights into this article, presenting them to you in full.
Technological Breakthrough: SST Emerges as the Ultimate Direction for AIDC Power Supply Architecture
The current demand for AI computing power is growing exponentially, and traditional power architectures are hitting bottlenecks characterized by large footprints, high losses, and slow response times. Unlike the industry's common perception of the three core elements of AI—"computing power + algorithms + data"—Vincent emphasized during the dialogue that to stand out in the AI race, a fourth pole must be added: reliable power infrastructure.
During the live stream, Gary reviewed the iterative journey of AIDC power supply architecture, from "UPS → HVDC → Panama Power → SST”. He pointed out that in the short term, compared to traditional UPS power supply solutions, HVDC offers better efficiency, reliability, and stability, and is becoming the mainstream upgrade solution. However, in the medium to long term, SST is the true game-changer for the AI era. By leveraging power electronics technology and high-frequency magneto electric isolation, it fundamentally transforms traditional energy conversion methods.
Gary mentioned that at the 2025 OCP Summit, NVIDIA officially named the technology Solid State Transformer (SST) and listed it as a core component of the AIDC power supply architecture. From Vincent's perspective, this move marks a critical turning point for the development of SST and serves as the golden key to unlocking a new paradigm of "intelligent energy utilization" in AIDC.
In terms of technological strategy, Weiguang Energy has already taken an early step forward. Vincent introduced that since its establishment in 2022, Weiguang Energy has been convinced from the very beginning: SST is the "core router" of the Energy Internet. To this end, it has constructed three major pillars.
Full-Stack Self-Development: Since 2015, a specialized team with over a decade of experience has achieved full-stack, in-house development covering everything from topology, control, and thermal management to complete systems, holding comprehensive intellectual property rights. In September 2025, the project "Key Technologies and Multi-Scenario Applications of Wide-Voltage SST" passed the appraisal of the China Machinery Industry Federation and was rated as reaching an "international leading level."
Key Performance Breakthroughs: The first-generation AIDC product launched in 2023 achieved direct conversion from 10 kV to 800 V DC, with an efficiency exceeding 98.5%. Compared to traditional solutions, it saves 60% in floor space, freeing up valuable room for computing power infrastructure. Weiguang Energy's products and solutions are rigorously designed in compliance with IEC standards and European norms, ensuring end-to-end safety from the MV side to the LV side. Additionally, the products incorporate online redundant module technology, which allows the system to continue operating at full capacity without derating or shutting down, even if an anomaly occurs within a module.
Production Capacity: In May 2025, Weiguang Energy established the world's first SST production base in Kunshan, with an annual capacity of 5 GW. This marks Weiguang Energy's official transition of SST from the laboratory and demonstration projects into the era of large-scale commercial application.
Global Perspective: Standard Consensus Amidst Regional Variations in the Surging SST Market
Technological maturity is accelerating market growth. With the global explosion of AIDC and the accelerated energy transition, SST is moving from the "technology validation phase" into the "scenario explosion phase," with different regions exhibiting distinct development characteristics. Drawing on a global perspective, Gary identified key regions and broke down the market logic for four major areas:
North America: As the core driver of the AIDC market, it has the fastest iteration speed. The 800 V power architecture white paper previously released by NVIDIA clearly points the way for technology, which has directly given rise to an urgent demand for MV direct supply, ultra-high density, and intelligent dispatch.
Europe: With a focus on the overall architecture of the energy transition, the IEK report shows that European demonstration projects are centered on flexible interconnection of distribution networks, high-proportion renewable energy integration, and ultra-fast charging networks for electric vehicles. SST is regarded as a key node for building decentralized, digitalized, and interactive power grids.
Asia-Pacific Region: As the global growth engine, Research Nester predicts that by 2035, the Asia-Pacific region will account for nearly 45% of the global market share. The core momentum comes from the fundamental electricity demand driven by sustained urbanization and industrialization, as well as the intelligent transformation of power grids propelled by national-level projects such as China's "East Data, West Computing" project. Northeast Securities forecasts that the global SST market space will reach 50-100 billion Chinese yuan, with the Asia-Pacific region being the largest source of growth.
South America: As an emerging potential market, the main drivers consist of the need for infrastructure upgrades and the demand for grid integration of abundant renewable energy in countries such as Brazil and Argentina. However, market awareness and policy support still require further development.
Addressing regional differences, Vincent stated that the core of Weiguang Energy's participation in international dialogue is to integrate Chinese engineering practices with global standards and accelerate the maturity of emerging markets. Although global SST standards have not yet been unified, a consensus has been reached on key parameters: 10 kV MV direct conversion to 800 V DC has become the "golden path" for AIDC power supply, and the three-stage power conversion architecture is the mainstream technological paradigm.
Gary concurred with this view, pointing out that leading companies are currently focusing on 2-5 MW modular SST units. The goal is to achieve 800-1500 V DC conversion with system efficiency exceeding 99%. Industry collaboration will accelerate the maturity of the supply chain and the speed of deployment.
Looking ahead to the implementation of future scenarios, Gary predicts that in the next 1-3 years, the highly certain application scenarios will undoubtedly be AI data centers and electric vehicle ultra-fast charging networks. However, the high-growth scenarios in the next 3-5 years will expand to include high-end precision manufacturing (such as ultra-pure, highly stable power supply needs for semiconductor manufacturing and particle accelerators), smart distribution grids and microgrids (flexible urban interconnection, voltage and reactive power regulation, islanded operation of park microgrids), and transportation electrification (integrated power systems for high-speed trains, low-altitude flight, and electric vessels).
Ecosystem Co-creation: SST Empowers the Energy Internet, Weiguang Energy Anchors Its Global Strategy
The ultimate significance of SST lies in reshaping the ecosystem. It can transform every electricity-consuming unit from a "load" on the grid into a dispatchable "resource," connecting the three major trends of energy: low-carbon transition, decentralization, and digitalization.
During the live stream, Vincent revealed that Weiguang Energy will launch a 2.5 MW SST product in 2026 to meet the foundational energy needs of AI factories. Currently, Weiguang Energy's SST has been empowering three key areas: AI computing centers, electric transportation, and new distribution networks with energy storage. At the SST direct-connected hybrid charging station project in Kunshan, Jiangsu, which has been in operation for a year and a half, efficiency has improved by 2% compared to traditional solutions. In Gary's view, this 2% improvement is a true "game-changer" in the SST field.
Both parties agreed that the SST industry will exhibit three clear trends over the next three years:
First, comprehensive penetration of application scenarios, with the value of intelligence fully highlighted: Application scenarios will expand from AIDC and charging stations to smart grids, industrial power supplies, and rail transit. As an intelligent node enabling "cloud-edge-device" collaboration, SST leverages real-time power quality data and AI algorithms to achieve global optimization—from grid dispatch to data center load management.
Second, competition in the industrial ecosystem will shift from single-device competition to full-chain competition: The full chain encompasses "core components + system solutions + scenario implementation." Breakthroughs in upstream SiC devices will be crucial in the future.
Third, continuous cost optimization: SST will transition from being a "leading solution" to the stage of "market penetration," reshaping the competitive landscape of the global power equipment industry.
Gary stated that the global power system is currently facing two core challenges: how to make the grid more flexible to accommodate green electricity, and how to make energy usage more intelligent to support the digital economy. SST is precisely the key link connecting the two, enabling "plug-and-play" integration of distributed energy resources and achieving precise energy management and value maximization through digital control. In response to this trend, Weiguang Energy has initiated production capacity planning covering three continents, with the goal of achieving an annual capacity of 30 GW by 2030.
As AI computing power continues to push physical limits and the transition to net-zero emissions becomes a global consensus, SST is emerging as a core force in defining new global energy standards. Looking ahead, Weiguang Energy looks forward to working with partners across the global industrial chain to jointly build a more open, collaborative, and intelligent energy ecosystem. By transforming every data center, every factory, and every community into green, efficient, and intelligent energy nodes, we can collectively embrace a new future of energy transformation.
