AI data centers are power hungry, pushing power density to new highs while requiring long-term reliability. The increasing power density, particularly at the board and rack levels, creates challenges for stability and the unpredictable high-current surges resulting from these many-core applications. Interestingly, these difficulties are driving a significant amount of new development in capacitors while also bringing back older technologies to be viewed from a different perspective.
At the rack and tray levels, the OCP Open Rack V3 Power Shelf voltage is 51 V nominal, with a range of 46 V to 52 V, or 54 V nominal, with a range of 52 V to 56 V. The power is connected through four connectors, each rated at 100 A, for a total power of about 20 kW. The current trend is increasing this 20 kW shelf to 30 kW or more, exacerbating these issues.
