Late at night, an alarm suddenly sounded in the monitoring room of an artificial intelligence data center - voltage drops caused by fluctuations in the power grid. However, the server indicator light still flickered steadily: an 800V high-voltage DC backup power system completed the switch within 0.02 seconds, ensuring uninterrupted calculations of trillions of times per second. Behind this is a comprehensive innovation from power supply architecture to energy storage technology, "said an engineer.

Why does AIDC need a 'super power supply'?  

The leap in AI chip power is the core driving force. The power of a single server has skyrocketed from a few KWs to 100KW, and may even challenge 600KW in the future. The traditional 240V power supply solution has high line loss and copper consumption, and air cooling and heat dissipation can no longer meet the demand. Nvidia announced at the 2025 GTC conference that it will launch an 800V DC power supply system in 2026, which can reduce line loss by 45% and copper consumption by 70%. At the same time, the load of AI computing power fluctuates in a pulse like manner, requiring the power supply to have a surge response capability of over 180%, and the backup power system needs to achieve millisecond level switching.

A minute level power outage may cause tens of millions of yuan in losses, forcing the industry to iterate towards high-power and high reliability solutions, "said an industry expert. In this context, lithium iron phosphate batteries, with their high safety and long cycle life, are rapidly replacing lead-acid batteries and ternary lithium batteries, while solid-state batteries are expected to enter the high reliability backup scenario within 2-3 years.

How can Chinese manufacturers seize the opportunity of technological advancement?  

The popularization of 800V architecture is disrupting the traditional UPS/HVDC market dominated by overseas manufacturers such as Eaton and Weidi. Chinese companies leverage their accumulated power electronics technology and rapid iteration capabilities to enter the global supply chain through OEM/ODM.

Megmeet has become the only Chinese power supplier certified by Nvidia, with an 800V/570kW rack efficiency exceeding 97%;

Sunshine Power has established Hefei Sunshine Source Intelligent Technology, focusing on HVDC/SST products, and will mass produce 800V systems by 2026;

Delta's liquid cooled CDU solution has obtained NVIDIA GB200 certification, providing an "electric cooling" collaborative solution;

Nandu Power has won bulk orders from top North American customers with its high-voltage lithium battery solution.

Overseas manufacturers have long R&D cycles, while Chinese supply chains can complete sample delivery within a week, "revealed an equipment supplier. According to third-party data, from 2025 to 2030, the compound annual growth rate of data center capacity in China will reach 27%, far exceeding the global average of 8%, providing a huge testing ground for local enterprises.

Next stop: Solid state transformers and direct green power supply

The technological evolution has not stopped at 800V HVDC. Solid state transformers (SST) replace traditional power frequency transformers with high-frequency transformers, with an efficiency of up to 98.3%, a reduced volume of 1/5, and support for bidirectional energy flow. It is expected to begin mass production in the second half of 2027 and become mainstream by 2029.

On the other hand, the energy consumption pressure of AIDC has given rise to the "green power direct supply+energy storage" model. The instability of photovoltaic and wind power requires supporting energy storage to achieve millisecond level response, and it is expected that the related energy storage market size will exceed 300GWh by 2030. Sunshine Power, Kehua Data and other enterprises have launched integrated solutions to integrate power distribution, energy storage, and clean energy, reducing carbon emissions while improving economic efficiency.Editor/Yang Meiling