Schneider Electric, AMD Unveil Blueprint for AI Factory Deployments

Schneider Electric and AMD on Thursday released a jointly developed design they say could act as a blueprint for data center operators deploying high-density AI infrastructure.The design is built around AMD’s Helios rackscale platform and can support AI racks with power densities of up to 246kW and modular, multi-cluster environments with up to 10.4MW of IT capacity.The companies said the reference can be used by operators looking to deploy new AI factories and by those retrofitting high-density AI infrastructure in existing data centers.Rob Bunger, global director of data center solution architecture at Schneider Electric, said the design comes as mounting AI workloads are pushing data center infrastructure to “unprecedented limits.”“Operators must manage significantly higher power densities, thermal requirements and operational complexity while reducing deployment risk,” he told AI Business.Related:Nebius Embarks on "Asset-Light" Data Center ModelTo help address these challenges, the design uses Schneider Electric’s ETAP and EcoStruxure IT Design CFD simulation tools to enable operators to test, predict and manage infrastructure performance.The design covers four areas of infrastructure: facility power, facility cooling, IT space and lifecycle software.By modeling data center physical infrastructure performance, the companies said the blueprint helps shorten planning processes by defining how power, cooling, and IT infrastructure should be organized.“These capabilities help organizations build reliable, scalable AI factories faster with greater confidence, reduced risk and less complexity,” Bunger added.The design also includes real-time monitoring and analytics, AI-driven predictive maintenance and system-level optimization across power, cooling and IT infrastructure.AI Infrastructure Deployment as an Engineering ChallengeThe release of the design blueprint comes as AI infrastructure deployment is shifting from securing compute capacity to integrating complex systems across an entire operation spanning power, cooling, networking and operations.“The AMD Helios reference design bridges the gap between advanced AI compute platforms, energy tech and real-world data center implementation through a jointly developed and validated blueprint,” Bunger said. “While access to power remains a major industry constraint, engineering-backed reference designs enable organizations to move from planning to deployment faster with greater confidence, efficiency and reliability.”The design is intended to support modular scaling, with AI clusters of up to 10.4MW of IT capacity for greenfield deployments and infrastructure capable of supporting high-density AI workloads in existing facilities.Related:Taiwan’s Second-Largest Chipmaker Hits Photonics Production MilestoneThe reference design has been validated to ANSI standards for U.S. deployments, with plans to extend the framework to support International Electrotechnical Commission standards for global implementations.About the AuthorContributing WriterScarlett Evans is a freelance writer with a focus on emerging technologies and the minerals industry. Previously, she served as assistant editor at IoT World Today, where she specialized in robotics and smart city technologies. Scarlett also has a background in the mining and resources sector, with experience at Mine Australia, Mine Technology and Power Technology. She joined Informa in April 2022 before transitioning to freelance work.