APEC 2026 Embraces the International Power Community

One of the great things about the power electronics community is its camaraderie, and one of the ways to see that is by attending an event like the IEEE Applied Power Electronics Conference (APEC).

The 2026 event was held in beautiful and historic San Antonio, Texas, bringing together power engineering professionals from around the world to learn from, network, and do business with one another. There was also a world-class exhibition of the latest in power electronics solutions, along with a host of other activities. 

Started over two decades ago, APEC has grown into one of the largest technical conferences in North America, with more than 5,000 participants from around the world. The scale and depth of the conference, exhibition, and seminars reflect the energy and innovation of the power electronics community. Engineers, researchers, students, and business leaders assembled to learn and share from and with one another, and help build the future of power electronics together.

The numbers say it all. The event registration was 5,452, a record for APEC, with 56 event partners and 319 exhibitors vs. 314 in 2025 (Fig. 1). The technical sessions had 571 papers presented in 71 lecture and dialogue sessions, 30 industry sessions with 174 presentations, and 18 professional education seminars with 1,428 registrations.

Papers in the Dialogue Sessions were presented in poster format, enabling the attendees interested in the paper to have an extended, in-person discussion with the paper’s author (Fig. 2). There were also 655 student participants vs. 447 in 2025. The APEC Proceedings are considered the most valuable conference collection in power electronics, as reflected in the Scientific Journal Rankings (SJR). 

The tone at this year’s APEC was an optimistic one, with a lot of new products and services being highlighted on the show floor (Fig. 3). One of the predominant themes was that of AI-oriented data center power-management solutions, which were addressed at almost every booth.

The heavy focus on data center power almost overshadowed the other power application spaces being presented. This may raise concerns about oversaturation in data center investment, but since the core power technologies involved can also address myriad other demanding applications, there's limited risk of damage to the power industry.

When it comes to the industry's future, the event also invested significantly in student activities. The Student Mentorship Program, the Student Travel Award, the Student Job Fair, and the Student Session Assistance Program provided opportunities for students to grow and engage.

In addition, the Student Demonstration Competition was held for the first time, creating a new venue for students to showcase their talents, network with one another, and connect with the industry. The inaugural event had a total of 46 submissions, with 16 finalists. First Place Winner Adnan Farooq Khan, P.T. Nandh Kishore, and Arnab Samanta from IIT Delhi underscored the strong regional growth of power electronics research in India, and the second and third places went to Berkley and Virginia Tech. 

On top of that, the student job fair had 18 companies talking to over 250 student attendees, and the PSMA Student Mentorship Program had 37 mentors and 37 mentees, a record high.