The world of power generation is being revolutionized by the use of high-temperature superconductors in AI data centers, which promise to improve efficiency and reduce transmission losses.
Data centers for AI are facing significant challenges in terms of power generation and transmission. The traditional transmission and distribution networks are not efficient enough to handle the massive electrical loads required by these data centers. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), annual transmission and distribution losses average about 5 percent. To address this issue, hyperscalers such as Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, and Microsoft Azure are investigating every avenue to gain more power and raise efficiency.
Microsoft, for example, is exploring the potential of high-temperature superconductors (HTS) as a replacement for copper wiring. According to the company, HTS can improve energy efficiency by reducing transmission losses, increasing the resiliency of electrical grids, and limiting the impact of data centers on communities by reducing the amount of space required to move power.
Superconductors Revolutionize Power Efficiency
Copper is a good conductor, but current encounters resistance as it moves along the line, generating heat and lowering efficiency. HTS largely eliminates this resistance factor, as it’s made of superconducting materials that are cooled to cryogenic temperatures. The resulting cables are smaller and lighter than copper wiring, don’t lower voltage as they transmit current, and don’t produce heat.
Microsoft is working with partners on the advancement of this technology, including an investment of US $75 million into Veir, a superconducting power technology developer. Veir’s conductors use HTS tape, most commonly based on a class of materials known as rare-earth barium copper oxide (REBCO).
HTS cables still operate at cryogenic temperatures, so cooling must be integrated into the power delivery system design. Veir maintains a low operating temperature using a closed-loop liquid nitrogen system. Liquid nitrogen lines are fed into the facility to serve the superconductors, delivering power to where it’s needed and managing the cooling system like other facility subsystems.
Rare earth materials, cooling loops, cryogenic temperatures—all of this adds considerably to costs. Thus, HTS isn’t going to replace copper in the vast majority of applications. However, the economics are most compelling where power delivery is constrained by space, weight, voltage drop, and heat.
AI data centers are becoming the perfect proving ground for this approach. Hyperscalers are willing to spend to develop higher-efficiency systems, balancing spending on development against the revenue they might make by delivering AI services broadly.
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