This paper introduces a microelectronic emulation approach for high-speed power system computation. First, the problems of existing power system simulators are detailed. This shows that microelectronic emulation is a possible solution for the speed problems of existing simulators, using emulation of the power grid to build an instantaneous connection between multiple differential equation solving blocks each one using the results of the others. Second, this paper presents one specific emulation approach, the so-called AC emulation approach. The ultimate objective of the AC emulation approach is the realization of a power system emulator which can simultaneously reproduce a large number of phenomena of different time constants or frequencies (excluding electromagnetic phenomena) with a much higher speed than real time. Frequency dependence of the elements is preserved and the signals propagating in the emulated network are the shrunk or downscaled current and voltage waves of the real power network. The models of the power network components are detailed and the microelectronic implementations are proposed. Moreover, behavioral simulation results confirm the feasibility of this approach which in turn lays the foundation for such an emulator.