ABB has introduced Infinitus, a portfolio of direct current power technologies for AI data centers built around 800 VDC distribution and rack power demands the company expects to reach 1 MW and beyond. ABB says today’s AI racks draw close to 200 kW, and the next chip generations will need an electrical architecture that strips out conversion stages and the heat losses that come with them. ABB calls Infinitus the industry’s first integrated source-to-rack DC portfolio, and it extends the 800 VDC collaboration with NVIDIA that ABB joined at the OCP Global Summit last October.
800 VDC Architecture Targets Higher AI Rack Density
ABB says 800 VDC distribution shrinks the power infrastructure footprint, eliminates redundant AC-to-DC conversion steps, and increases the share of facility power that reaches IT loads. Citing the International Energy Agency’s projection that global data center electricity demand will more than double by 2030, ABB estimates that roughly 25% to 40% of new data center capacity installed that year could use DC distribution. NVIDIA’s own 800 VDC reference design, which we covered when it moved from concept toward production in August, is the demand side of the same shift.
A BCG and ABB report cited by the company found that DC distribution can deliver energy-efficiency gains of more than 5% while freeing space for compute racks, similar math we looked at with Micron’s 245TB SSD. ABB works that number through a 500 MW data center: a 5% efficiency improvement would make 25 MW available for revenue-generating IT loads, which the company estimates at more than $300 million in additional annual revenue. ABB adds that the same 5% gain on a 500 MW campus saves enough energy in a year to power Washington, D.C. for almost a week.
Infinitus Combines Five DC Power Building Blocks
The portfolio centers on ABB’s Infinitus solid-state transformer technology, which the company says lets sites operate with a smaller footprint and higher efficiency, and spans five building blocks intended for both DC-native and hybrid AC/DC designs. Medium-voltage powertrains deliver power from the grid or on-site generation. DC sources and power quality equipment convert AC to DC outside the white space. DC power distribution carries it to the racks at higher density in less space. DC power protection guards operators, AI servers, and hardware against DC overcurrents. Cooling optimization uses DC-connected variable speed drives and motors to cut energy consumption across grey and white space.
According to ABB, they are the only major electrification supplier with both the world’s first fully IEC-certified solid-state circuit breaker and an industry-first static medium-voltage UPS in production. The company positions the portfolio as configurable around a facility’s power demand, layout, and energy mix, complementing existing AC systems where operators aren’t ready to go DC-native. At the rack, the shift ABB is describing is the one we saw from the other end in our Eaton HDXL rack PDU review, where a single zero-U unit already has to carry 81 kW.
“ABB has pioneered DC technology for more than 25 years across several segments. We are working closely with chipmakers, hyperscale customers, supply partners and industry bodies to set the standards and the pace for the rollout of high-efficiency DC architectures,” said Giampiero Frisio, President of ABB’s Electrification business area. “Infinitus is the first portfolio providing the building blocks for any data center architecture, either DC native or hybrid AC / DC, to power next-generation AI chips efficiently. This technology will bring similar energy efficiency gains to other energy-intensive industries such as large-scale manufacturing, renewables and marine operations.”
Components Are Moving Toward DC-Native Deployment
Several Infinitus components are slated for production over the next 12 months, and ABB expects the first DC-native facilities running the complete portfolio to be installed and operational within two to three years. This announcement covers an architecture on its way to deployment, and the end-to-end platform isn’t available today.
ABB says it brings more than 25 years of DC experience and more than 700 patents spanning renewables, power generation, energy storage, motors, and drives to the effort, and it expects the same DC transition to reach industrial buildings, manufacturing, renewables, and marine operations.
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