As AI surges, Schneider Electric is teaming up with Nvidia to help data centers manage their energy use. Here's how.
The tech company's new data-reference center design aims to cut cooling energy usage by about 20%.
This article is part of "CXO AI Playbook" — straight talk from business leaders on how they're testing and using AI.
Schneider Electric is a global technology company specializing in energy management for software and services, including data centers and industrial automation. Founded in 1836, the company is headquartered in Paris and operates in more than 100 countries. Some of its customers include Microsoft, Google, and Amazon.
Situation analysis
The use of artificial intelligence continues to expand worldwide. Pankaj Sharma, the executive vice president of data centers and networks at Schneider Electric, said as a result, more data centers will be built, the demand for energy will increase, and the environmental impact will grow.
The International Energy Agency estimates that by 2026, the AI industry will use about 10 times the electricity it consumed in 2023. Along with expanding energy, data centers also face the challenge of incorporating cooling systems that enhance energy efficiency and performance.
In December 2024, Schneider Electric announced a partnership with Nvidia to develop tools to help data center operators address their energy and sustainability challenges related to increased AI use. This includes plans for developing AI-focused energy and cooling strategies and AI infrastructure, and consulting support to help data centers reach their sustainability goals.
The partnership includes what Sharma calls "data center reference architectures," frameworks outlining the energy requirements and cooling systems needed to support data processing, business networks, data storage, and other technology. It also includes digital plans and real-time insights to help build new, energy-efficient data centers.
Sharma said the goal is to help companies improve their digital infrastructure by establishing more sustainable, AI-ready data centers.
Key staff and partners
Sharma told Business Insider that Schneider Electric collaborated with Nvidia on the project. He said Schneider's technology teams and data center engineers and architects worked closely with Nvidia's technical teams on the latest partnership to develop and test solutions. The executive leadership and business development teams were also involved.
AI in action
Schneider Electric co-developed a new data-reference center design with Nvidia. This is a plan for building new data centers that support high-density AI clusters of up to 132 kilowatts per data-center server rack. A cluster is a network of servers that power AI, and a server rack is a structure that houses and organizes IT equipment.
Sharma said the reference plan works with Nvidia's superchips, which are designed for large-scale AI and high-performance processing. The project is also built to support liquid cooling, a process of using water or a liquid coolant to absorb and remove heat from large-scale computers and processing units.
Sharma said the new reference designs build on Schneider Electric's existing products, which help remove heat from data centers.
He said the latest designs developed with Nvidia help Schneider Electric's customers organize the development and building of data centers that meet a company's energy and cooling challenges. Sharma added that the plans can be customized for individual companies' requirements for their AI workloads in a more energy-efficient, sustainable way for the future. He said that data centers are already being built using the design created with Nvidia.
"The intent of the design is not to build a real-life, end-to-end replica of the design, but instead, to use various aspects of it to inform customers' initiatives, providing inspiration and guidance as needed," Sharma said.
Did it work, and how did leaders know?
Using virtual modeling and testing, Sharma said that the reference designs developed with Nvidia could help data centers reduce cooling energy usage by about 20%. The plan can also help shorten the time it takes to design and build new data center projects by about 30%, which also saves companies money and enhances sustainability, he added.
"It's not just speed, it's cost and sustainability," Sharma said. "All of these pieces put together are an advantage for all our customers."
Schneider Electric plans to continue working with Nvidia to develop more reference designs over the next few years, Sharma said. The company is also working to create data center designs and infrastructure that can accommodate even higher levels of energy use, as well as the cooling technology necessary to prevent overheating and manage energy consumption.
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