AI is transforming the data center infrastructure equation. As advanced compute platforms push rack densities from tens to hundreds of kilowatts, and potentially 1MW per rack, operators must reconsider not only how power reaches the IT equipment, but also how the resulting heat is removed.
If you look at NVIDIA’s roadmap as an example, you’ll see the kilowatts go up radically. It’s all to do with processing tokens. The more efficiently you can process those tokens, the more money you can make
Calvin Nicholson, Legrand
Infrastructure built for previous generations of hardware is being pushed to its limits, while the requirements of future AI platforms remain difficult to predict. Decisions made today about power distribution, cooling capacity, and facility design will determine how readily data centers can accommodate tomorrow’s workloads.
These pressures are accelerating interest in higher-voltage DC architectures, power sidecars, liquid-cooled busbars, and increasingly application-specific cooling technologies. At AI densities, every power decision has thermal consequences, while every cooling choice affects wider facility design.
