AWS Unveils AI Data Center Designs Supporting 6x Increase in Density (David Chernicoff)

Overview

The article was written by David Chernicoff and published by Data Center Frontier in 2024. It analyses the AI-oriented data centre design changes AWS announced at re:Invent 2024: simplified electrical and mechanical systems, backup power moved closer to racks, a hybrid liquid/air cooling rack design that can be retrofitted, a new power shelf and software-driven server placement to cut stranded power.

It is a news analysis of a vendor announcement; the figures are AWS's claims and are not independently verified. AWS claims about 12% more compute power per site from the new designs. Simplified power conversion is claimed to reduce inefficiency and failure risk by 20%. Bringing backup power closer to the racks cut the number of electrical racks affected by issues by 89%. Fan energy is reduced by using natural pressure differentials to exhaust hot air. The liquid-to-chip rack design, configurable and retrofittable, can cut mechanical energy by up to 46% and supports air- and liquid-cooled gear in one facility.

The new rack power shelf targets a 6x increase in rack power density over two years, then a further 3x. AWS claims higher compute per site, lower energy and better availability. Limit: there is no detailed engineering data or independent measurement, so the claims should be read as indicators of design direction.

Key points

1. AWS claims about 12% more compute power per site from the new designs.
2. Simplified power conversion is claimed to reduce inefficiency and failure risk by 20%.
3. Bringing backup power closer to the racks cut the number of electrical racks affected by issues by 89%.
4. Fan energy is reduced by using natural pressure differentials to exhaust hot air.
5. Liquid-to-chip rack design can cut mechanical energy by up to 46% and supports air- and liquid-cooled gear in one facility.
6. The new rack power shelf targets a 6x increase in rack power density over two years, then a further 3x.

Using it in design

• Support hybrid air/liquid halls and rack-level or near-rack backup power topologies in the design library.
• Track stranded power per rack or row and expose it as a KPI.
• Allow fewer conversion stages in power chain templates.
• Use the vendor claims (12%, 20%, 89%, 46%) as target scenarios, not as verified data.

Who should read it

Designers and technology leaders planning data centre architecture for AI workloads.

Publication details

Authors

David Chernicoff

Publisher

Data Center Frontier

Year

2024

Document language

English

Source type

Expert / community

Access

Free to read

Licence

Copyright retained; citation only — the publisher’s terms apply to the original document

Citation