Silicon has been most widely used semiconductor material for power electronic systems. However, Si-based power devices have attained their working limits and there are a lot of efforts for alternative Si-based power devices for better performance. Advances in power electronics have improved the efficiency, size, weight and materials cost. New wide band gap materials such as SiC have now been introduced for high power applications. SiC power devices have been evolved from lab scale to a viable alternative to Si electronics in high-efficiency and high-power density applications. In this article, the potential impact of SiC devices for power applications will be discussed along with their Si counterpart in terms of higher switching performance, higher voltages and higher power density. The recent progress in the development of high voltage power semiconductor devices is reviewed. Future trends in device development and industrialization are also addressed.