• Partners have collaborated to make AI data centers more reliable, flexible, and less power-hungry to keep up with increasing needs in AI.
• NVIDIA is teaming with suppliers to develop an 800V high-voltage DC architecture that will efficiently support the next generation.
• Existing 48V power distribution systems are no longer suitable, since they require about 450 pounds of copper to source just 1MW of power to a rack.

Texas Instruments (TI) and NVIDIA have agreed to cooperate on developing new technologies for sensor and power management for NVIDIA’s planned 800V HVDC data center server power distribution systems. Partners have collaborated to make AI data centers more reliable, flexible, and less power-hungry to keep up with increasing needs in AI.

With AI developing so rapidly, the energy required by data centers is rising sharply, and experts say a 100kW rack power may soon become a 1MW one. Existing 48V power distribution systems are no longer suitable, since they require about 450 pounds of copper to source just 1MW of power to a rack. For this reason, providing enough power for growing systems is very difficult. Yet, the 800V HVDC scheme improves both the power density and overall efficiency, which makes power supplies smaller, easier to use, and simpler to handle, even when architects need to scale their racks as demand calls for it.

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“We are witnessing a paradigm shift,” said Jeffrey Morroni, a Texas Instruments Fellow and director of Kilby Labs’ power management research and development. “AI data centres are pushing the boundaries of power to levels that were previously unthinkable.” He noted that while 48V infrastructures posed challenges a few years ago, “800V high-voltage DC architectures are made possible by NVIDIA’s AI competence and TI’s power conversion expertise, meeting the previously unheard-of need for AI computing.”

“High-performance AI infrastructure is made possible by semiconductor power systems,” stated Gabriel Gorla, NVIDIA’s VP of System Engineering. “NVIDIA is teaming with suppliers to develop an 800V high-voltage DC architecture that will efficiently support the next generation of powerful, large-scale AI data centres.”

This partnership shows a big step forward as it combines the strengths of TI’s efficiency and NVIDIA’s leadership in AI to support the growing needs of data centers everywhere.