2/16/24, 6:50 AM Data Center Growth: Power Supply's Vital Role in Fueling HPC and AI

Alamy / Data Center Knowledge

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

High-Performance Computing (HPC) and generative continue to capture the

imagination of the IT world. The boundaries of innovation are limitless. However,
it’s important to remember the foundation of all technology systems: the power
supply.

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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.

The Power to Drive Cities and Countries

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.

These power densities add up quickly. In the past, a colocation installation

consuming 3-5MW would have been considered large. Today, a single HPC
computing system can take up to 13 megawatts from power sources while
Exascale systems draw 25 megawatts or more . Supercomputers (harnessing the
power of multiple interconnected processing cores) use up to 30MW, consuming
as much power in a year as a small city .

Related: US Energy Firm in Talks To Tap Data Center Generators

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.

How Can Data Centers Answer the Power Challenge?

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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.

Key Data Center Attributes for Delivering the Necessary

Power

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:

• Financial Stability: Delivering the new power requirements is capital

intensive, with little margin for error along the way. Colocation firms must
identify capital partners that – literally – buy into the vision for the need for
efficient power.

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2/16/24, 6:50 AM Data Center Growth: Power Supply's Vital Role in Fueling HPC and AI

• Operational Discipline: Enterprises need colocation partners who can

anticipate their needs and hit every deadline for delivering power. This
requires a proactive stocking program for critical infrastructure components
and partnerships with utilities to alleviate demand on the grid, such as
developing on-site power generation.
• Proven Track Record: Technical teams that have experience deploying
and operating HPC clusters with dense power requirements and advanced
liquid cooling approaches. The pedigree of leadership in key positions will
reveal where the colocation provider has been and where it is going with power
innovations.

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.

Joe Minarik is COO of DataBank , a provider of enterprise-class edge colocation,

interconnection, and managed services.

Source URL:https://www.datacenterknowledge.com/industry-perspectives/data-center-growth-power-supplys-vital-
role-fueling-hpc-and-ai

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