ABB has launched Infinitus, an integrated direct-current power portfolio designed to carry electricity from the incoming supply through to high-density computing racks as artificial-intelligence infrastructure pushes conventional data-centre electrical systems towards substantially higher power levels.
The portfolio combines medium-voltage powertrains, AC-to-DC conversion, DC distribution, DC protection, and cooling-system drives around an architecture intended to support both fully DC-native facilities and hybrid AC/DC installations.
At its centre is ABB’s Infinitus solid-state transformer technology, which combines voltage transformation with power-electronic conversion rather than relying solely on the conventional sequence of electromagnetic transformers and separate conversion stages.
The company is targeting 800V DC distribution as computing density rises. ABB says next-generation AI hardware is expected to reach 1MW per rack and beyond, compared with levels approaching 200kW today, creating a much more demanding electrical and thermal environment around individual server racks.
That increase does not merely require larger incoming supplies. Every conversion stage between the grid connection and the processors occupies space, generates heat, introduces losses, and adds equipment that must be protected and maintained.
Moving more of the internal distribution architecture to DC is intended to remove some of those repeated conversion stages. ABB cites analysis indicating that DC distribution can improve overall energy efficiency by more than 5% in suitable installations while releasing additional floor area for computing equipment.
At the scale of a hyperscale campus, relatively small percentage gains become significant. A 5% improvement in a 500MW facility represents 25MW of power that no longer has to be absorbed by conversion losses and can instead be available elsewhere in the electrical system.
Infinitus divides the power chain into five principal building blocks. Medium-voltage powertrains connect the grid or on-site generation, while the source and power-quality layer converts AC into DC. Distribution equipment then routes power through the facility, with dedicated DC protection addressing overcurrent and fault conditions before electricity reaches computing hardware.
The fifth element concerns cooling. Variable-speed drives and motors can operate from the DC architecture, allowing part of the mechanical cooling infrastructure to be integrated into the same power system.
That becomes increasingly relevant as processor density rises. Electrical and thermal engineering can no longer be treated as separate disciplines when individual racks concentrate hundreds of kilowatts — and potentially more than a megawatt — into a relatively small physical footprint.
Protection presents one of the more difficult engineering problems. Direct-current faults behave differently from conventional AC faults because there is no natural current zero-crossing to help interrupt an arc, requiring switching and protection equipment specifically designed for DC operation.
ABB already manufactures an IEC-certified solid-state circuit breaker and a static medium-voltage uninterruptible power supply. Infinitus combines these and related technologies into a common architecture rather than treating DC equipment as a collection of isolated components.
Solid-state transformers add another layer of complexity. Semiconductor switching and digital control can reduce physical footprint and integrate several functions, but the resulting equipment has to manage power-electronic losses, thermal loads, electromagnetic compatibility, control stability, and protection at very high power levels.
The commercial test will therefore be reliability rather than compactness alone. A more efficient architecture is of limited value if failure of a highly integrated conversion stage removes a large block of computing capacity or proves difficult to service without interrupting operation.
ABB has been working with NVIDIA on 800V DC architectures for gigawatt-scale AI facilities since 2025. That collaboration forms part of a much wider supply chain now developing around high-density computing, involving chipmakers, semiconductor companies, switchgear suppliers, cooling specialists, utilities, and data-centre operators.
The electrical consequences increasingly extend beyond the data-centre building itself. A large AI campus can resemble a major industrial load, requiring high-voltage connections, substations, transformers, backup or on-site generation, energy storage, and grid-support arrangements before power reaches the internal rack architecture.
ABB expects the same basic DC principles to transfer into other energy-intensive sectors, including manufacturing, industrial buildings, renewable-energy systems, and marine applications.
Factories already contain large populations of variable-speed drives and other loads whose internal electronics ultimately operate on DC, even where power arrives through an AC network. Renewable generation and batteries are also inherently DC technologies before conversion into the wider electrical system.
A source-to-load DC architecture could therefore remove repeated conversion stages in some industrial installations, although adoption will depend on standards, protection practice, installed equipment, maintenance skills, and whether the efficiency gains justify replacing established AC infrastructure.
ABB expects several principal Infinitus components to enter production during the next 12 months. The first facilities using the complete DC-native portfolio are expected to become operational within two to three years.
That leaves time for operating standards and engineering practice to develop alongside the hardware. Data centres are likely to provide the earliest volume applications because AI has created an unusually abrupt increase in power density, but the more durable industrial consequence may be broader adoption of DC distribution wherever generation, storage, drives, and electronic loads increasingly share the same electrical system.
