ABB has launched a portfolio of direct current (DC) power technologies aimed at data centres facing rapidly rising electricity demand from artificial intelligence workloads.
The company’s Infinitus portfolio is designed to support DC architectures from the power source through to individual computing racks, including medium-voltage power conversion, DC distribution and protection, and cooling optimisation.
The launch comes as data centre electricity consumption is expected to rise sharply. The International Energy Agency (IEA) expects global data centre electricity demand to more than double by 2030, while ABB estimates that 25–40% of new data centre capacity installed that year could use DC distribution.
The shift is being driven in part by the power requirements of next-generation AI processors. ABB expects AI chips to push power consumption to 1MW or more per rack, compared with almost 200kW today.
DC architectures can reduce the number of power conversion stages required between the grid and IT equipment. ABB says an 800V DC distribution architecture can reduce the physical footprint of power infrastructure while cutting conversion losses and heat generation.
A BCG and ABB report estimated that DC distribution could deliver energy efficiency gains of more than 5% while increasing the space available for computing equipment. Applied to a 500MW data centre, a 5% efficiency improvement would represent 25MW of additional power available for IT loads.
At the centre of Infinitus is ABB’s solid-state transformer technology. The portfolio also includes medium-voltage powertrains, DC sources and power-quality equipment, DC distribution and protection, and DC-connected variable-speed drives and motors for cooling systems.
ABB said the technology is intended to work alongside conventional AC infrastructure, allowing operators to adopt hybrid AC/DC architectures as well as fully DC-native designs.
The company is developing the portfolio in collaboration with chipmakers, hyperscale data centre operators and industry partners, including NVIDIA. ABB and NVIDIA announced plans in October 2025 to develop 800V DC power architectures for gigawatt-scale AI facilities.
Several components of Infinitus are expected to be produced over the next 12 months, with the first facilities using the complete portfolio expected to become operational within two to three years.
ABB is also positioning DC technology for applications beyond data centres, including manufacturing, industrial buildings, renewable energy and marine operations, where increasing electrification and power requirements could create similar demands for more efficient distribution architectures.
