Infineon’s Power & Sensor Systems division is teaming up with Nvidia to upgrade the outdated power architecture of AI data centers and replace them with a centralized high-voltage DC power setup.
With GPUs consuming more than 1 kW of power per chip, the amount of power going into a rack has exploded, and so are the racks. The rate of power failure is increasing due to the growing power burden. Racks have gone from demanding on average 120 kilowatts to 500 kilowatts in just a few years, and they’re expected to reach more than one megawatt before 2030, according to Infineon.
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The fix for this is to throw power supplies at the problem and put many power supplies in one rack. This takes up space and generates heat, and they increased the number of points of failure, according to Infineon.
The solution is to convert power right at the GPU on the server board and to upgrade the backbone to 800 volts. That should squeeze more reliability and efficiency out of the system while dealing with the heat, Infineon stated. Nvidia announced the 800 Volt direct current (VDC) power architecture at Computex 2025 as a much-needed replacement for the 54 Volt backbone currently in use, which is overwhelmed by the demand of AI processors and increasingly prone to failure.
“This makes sense with the power needs of AI and how it is growing,” said Alvin Nguyen, senior analyst with Forrester Research. “This helps mitigate power losses seen from lower voltage and AC systems, reduces the need for materials like copper for wiring/bus bars, better reliability, and better serviceability.”
Infineon says a shift to a centralized 800 VDC architecture allows for reduced power losses, higher efficiency and reliability. However, the new architecture requires new power conversion solutions and safety mechanisms to prevent potential hazards and costly server downtimes such as service and maintenance.
“There is no AI without power. That’s why we are working with Nvidia on intelligent power systems to meet the power demands of future AI data centers while providing a serviceable architecture that reduces system downtimes to a minimum,” says Adam White, division president of Power & Sensor Systems at Infineon Technologies in a statement.
Nvidia is making a full court press on this new 800 Volt backbone, with more than 50 MGX partners are gearing up for along with ecosystem support for Nvidia Kyber, which connects 576 Rubin Ultra GPUs, built to support increasing inference demands.
At the OCP Global Summit in Germany, some 20-plus industry partners are showcasing new silicon, components, power systems and support for 800-volt direct current (VDC) data centers of the gigawatt era that will support the Nvidia Kyber rack architecture.
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