The rate of data center growth has accelerated in recent years, with 7,000 facilities built or in construction. The key drivers in this growth is social media, streaming and cloud computing being a key driver in the growth… and of course, generative AI – not only for services such as ChatGPT, which in July 2024 was the 14th most visited website worldwide, but also for research and medicine as well as for financial and transport applications.
Earlier this year, the International Energy Agency released its energy usage and forecast and has predicted that the total global electricity consumption of data centers is set to top 1 PWh (petawatt-hour) in 2026. This more than doubles its 2022 value and (as the report states) “is equivalent to the electricity consumption of Japan.”
Here in the US, the Energy Information Administration’s data statesd total electricity consumption in 2022 was 4.07 PWh, with data from Goldman Sachs stating data centers were responsible for approximately 2% of this. This equates to 60% of the US’s entire solar capacity or 19% of its wind capacity… or to rephrase this, c.10% of the country’s coal capacity and emissions.
This share of the US’s power used by data centers will more than triple, according to Goldman Sachs, to become 8%.
When it comes to supplying this power, the data center needs to consider its overall power distribution, from grid to cabinet. At the server level where all the computation happens, CRPS and OCP form factor power supplies are required to ensure the maximum power is delivered reliably. AI data centers need two key improvements: efficiency improvements and power density improvements. And this means a shift in materials used for power supplies.
Silicon power supplies are reaching their physical limits and cannot deliver enough power, nor can it meet the expected efficiency regulations. Versus silicon (bandgap 1.12 eV), wide bandgap materials such as silicon carbide (SiC – 2.26 eV) and gallium nitride (GaN – 3.39 eV) enable greater switching speeds, improved operation at higher temperatures, and reduced energy losses. These next-generation devices also help reduce the cost of system cooling and, through increased power densities, increase space for higher computing servers.
In August last year, we announced a 3.2 kW data center power platform based on our latest GaN and SiC technologies. This July we added a 4.5 kW CRPS185 form-factor power supply unit (PSU) with the highest power density of any data center PSU (137 w/in3) as well as an efficiency over 97%. And by the end of the year, we are set to introduce a 8.5 kW PSU for AI data centers – a 3x increase in power demands in less than 18 months.
These platforms set all-new industry standards in power density and efficiency and are making their way into operation with our major data center customers.
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