AC has dominated commercial and data centre power distribution for decades due to its ease of transmission and standardized equipment. DC power is gaining momentum as AI workloads push traditional infrastructure to its limits.  

Both the vendor and hyperscaler communities are actively developing 400V, 800V, and 1,500V DC architectures. Full-stack DC simulations from utility to rack are also being conducted to validate performance under AI workloads and high-density compute scenarios.  

This session will consider: 

• What technical hurdles need to be overcome before DC achieves broad adoption in the data centre 

• Nearly every component – from transformers to breakers – must be re-engineered for DC operation, is this realistic and if so, what would be the timeframe?