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Data Center Growth - Power Supply's Vital Role in Fueling HPC & AI 13feb2024
Data Center Growth - Power Supply's Vital Role in Fueling HPC & AI 13feb2024
Data Center Growth - Power Supply's Vital Role in Fueling HPC & AI 13feb2024
INDUSTRY PERSPECTIVES
Data Center Growth: Power Supply's Vital Role in Fueling HPC and AI
Today's data centers face the challenge of meeting escalating power
demands to drive innovation and maintain efficiency.
Joe Minarik, DataBank | Feb 13, 2024
https://www.datacenterknowledge.com/print/176075 1/4
2/16/24, 6:50 AM Data Center Growth: Power Supply's Vital Role in Fueling HPC and AI
Without sufficient power , the fastest CPUs in the world can’t achieve their
potential compute capacity. The same goes for AI machine learning models.
Without a power grid feeding data centers that can deliver enough megawatts of
electricity to server clusters, the models can’t generate the fast results that AI
promises to end-users. This is a major challenge facing data centers today.
Related: Is Rear Rack Cooling Right For Your Data Center Operations?
To show just how big of a leap HPC and AI represent in terms of power demand,
companies looking to move their infrastructure to a colocation data center for
basic requirements (networking and data) might have required only 10-15kW per
cabinet just a year or two ago. Today, however, AI applications and the HPC
clusters that power them can require 50-100kW per cabinet, or more.
In the AI realm, one expert estimates that if Google used AI for its approximate
nine billion daily searches, it would need 29.2 terawatt hours of power each year –
the equivalent of the annual electricity consumption of Ireland. By 2027, AI
servers could use between 85 to 134 terawatt hours annually. That's comparable
to what Argentina, the Netherlands, or Sweden uses in a year – about 0.5% of the
world's current electricity use.These are astronomical numbers that would have
been inconceivable just a couple of years ago.
https://www.datacenterknowledge.com/print/176075 2/4
2/16/24, 6:50 AM Data Center Growth: Power Supply's Vital Role in Fueling HPC and AI
The demand for HPC resources and generative AI is sure to increase. So how will
data centers answer the call? The answer lies in addressing both sides of the
supply and demand equation.
• Data center operators are working more closely than ever with utility
partners to coordinate their expansion plans with power supply and grid
expansions. This information is included in data center location plans so that
new facilities have available and resilient power supply.
• On-site power is another option, including substations that can scale as
demand increases. It’s also important to explore more ways to generate on-site
power, including natural gas plants, microgrids, geothermal, solar, wind, and,
possibly, nuclear-powered small modular reactors (SMRs).
• Power generation isn’t enough. It must also be delivered to where it’s
needed. Data center providers can collaborate with local and national entities
to facilitate and expedite permitting for construction of transmission lines.
• Data center operators continue to drive more efficient powering and cooling
of their facilities. HPC and AI require not only a lot of electricity but also
generate a lot of extra heat. That’s why leading colocation data centers are
turning to liquid cooling options that efficiently deploy piping and fittings that
encase liquids and deliver cooling closer to CPUs, GPUs, and memory chips.
A combination of the factors noted above will also limit the industry’s
environmental impact, which is a moral and business imperative.
Not every colocation provider is positioned to deliver the power that HPC and AI
deployments demand. This is why enterprises deploying HPC and AI workloads
should seek out colocation partners with the following attributes:
https://www.datacenterknowledge.com/print/176075 3/4
2/16/24, 6:50 AM Data Center Growth: Power Supply's Vital Role in Fueling HPC and AI
New Opportunities
The explosion of HPC and AI represents an amazing time and massive new
opportunities for enterprises. We are at the embryonic stage of understanding the
opportunities of AI, but undoubtedly, the innovations that emerge will require
more power. This puts the industry at an inflection point, requiring deep
exploration of the best options for power generation and transmission, cost-
efficiency, and scalability, while limiting environmental impact. Now is the time.
Source URL:https://www.datacenterknowledge.com/industry-perspectives/data-center-growth-power-supplys-vital-
role-fueling-hpc-and-ai
https://www.datacenterknowledge.com/print/176075 4/4