Schneider Electric has announced new innovations to address the urgent energy and sustainability challenges driven by high demand for AI systems. The first part of the announcement is a new data centre reference design, co-developed with NVIDIA, which will support liquid-cooled, high-density AI clusters of up to 132 kW per rack. Optimised for NVIDIA’s GB200 NVL72 and Blackwell chips, the design streamlines planning and deployment with proven, validated architectures, addressing the unique challenges of utilising liquid cooling at-scale.
Schneider Electric has also introduced its new Galaxy VXL uninterruptible power supply (UPS), the industry’s most compact, high-density UPS designed for AI, data centre, and large-scale electrical workloads. This scalable, 1.25 MW modular UPS is designed to deliver more efficient power in a smaller, high-density footprint. Both innovations form part of Schneider Electric’s end-to-end, AI-ready data centre solutions, which focus on three key areas: developing an energy strategy for the AI era; deploying advanced infrastructure; and sustainability consulting. They seek to benefit data centre owners and operators as they deploy energy efficient, high-density infrastructure to support AI workloads as sustainably as possible.
The energy and environmental impact of AI is growing at unprecedented pace, and it’s paramount we bend the energy curve downward by finding new ways to decarbonise data centers and the digital infrastructure. Its latest data centre reference design, developed in partnership with NVIDIA, offers liquid-cooled AI clusters and addresses the unique challenges of deploying liquid cooling in corporate, colocation, and hyperscale data centre environments. To provide more sustainable and energy-efficient operations for the AI data centre of the future, the reference design includes comprehensive mechanical and electrical designs. It also offers alternatives for liquid-to-liquid Coolant Distribution Units (CDUs) and direct-to-chip liquid cooling.
Schneider Electric’s Sustainability Consulting business helps customers exceed decarbonisation goals via tailored sustainability strategies, emissions assessments, and supplier engagement programs. These global consulting services offer customers data-driven insights via EcoStruxure Resource Advisor, supported by 2,400 experts in 100+ countries.
Additionally, by combining data centre infrastructure with AI-driven applications, Schneider Electric promotes a scientific approach to “bend the energy curve” of AI. In this way, businesses may reduce AI’s energy impact while also using AI monitoring insights and talents as tools for broader decarbonisation efforts. To achieve this goal, there must be a common commitment to putting sustainable solutions into practice and making use of AI’s potential to increase productivity across all industries.
