Schneider Electric has developed a new reference design optimized for high-density liquid-cooled AI data centers. The design supports Nvidia Blackwell chips.
Schneider Electric introduces a new reference design specifically designed to support high-density liquid-cooled AI clusters of up to 132 kW per rack. The design is optimized for Nvidia’s GB200 NVL72 architecture and Blackwell chips. With the integration of liquid cooling, the design provides solutions for high density and heat generation peculiar to servers with these AI chips on board within hyperscale, colocation and enterprise data centers.
The reference design was developed in close cooperation with – how could it be otherwise – Nvidia. Schneider Electric launched the proclamation of the AI gospel according to Jensen Huang at its Innovation Summit earlier this year and has since launched several reference designs.
Liquid cooling
This design includes options for liquid-to-liquid Coolant Distribution Units (CDUs) and direct-to-chip liquid cooling. Liquid cooling makes it possible to significantly reduce energy consumption in data centers while facilitating high density. The company is not alone in coming to that conclusion: other HPC and server specialists are also increasingly turning to cooling. Lenovo is specifically playing up its self-developed Neptune water cooling as a major asset in that context.
The reference design provides data centers with a validated architecture that can simplify planning and implementation. At the same time, according to Schneider Electric, the design contributes to organizations’ sustainability goals. With this reference design, Schneider Electric expands its portfolio of AI-focused data center solutions and responds to the growing need for energy-efficient infrastructures within the data center industry.