With no end in sight for the tech industry’s AI hardware appetite, Nvidia is planning the next generation of its AI server rack system. Nvidia expects to have 1 megawatt (MW) IT racks ready around 2027, and it is planning a massive power boost to support the new architecture. That will come in the form of its 800V HVDC power system. At the moment, AI centers feature 54V DC power in racks that have power needs as high as 200 kilowatts (KW).
Nvidia expects the move to 800V HVDC to reduce complexity and save space. Today’s power center architecture for data centers requires several power conversions and often requires PSUs and UPS hardware to be in the IT rack, like the Nvidia GB200 NVL72 and GB300 NVL72 racks. The 800V HVDC system will convert 13.8 kilovolt (kV) AC power to 800V HVDC power in the power room and then move it throughout the data center, with overcurrent protection hardware at various points.
Example of a current AI data center configuration.
Credit: Nvidia
The result will be that in-rack power supplies and related hardware won’t be needed, freeing up room for more GPUs in each rack. And, as Nvidia points out, removing those rack-mounted AC/DC PSUs from the equation should lead to lower cooling costs.
Copper is another issue when moving this much power through a data center. Nvidia estimates that it would require half a million tons of copper in a 1-gigawatt (GW) data center if it stuck to the existing architecture. It expects the 800V HVDC to heavily reduce copper usage. In fact, Nvidia is estimating that copper requirements could drop by as much as 45% in the upcoming 800V HVDC design, instead of increasing.
Nvidia 800V HVDC AI data center configuration.
Credit: Nvidia
Nvidia says it’s bringing in several partners to move the 800V HVDC system from concept to reality, including Infineon, Texas Instruments, Delta, LiteOn, Eaton, and Vertiv. Nvidia is planning to have production of the 800V HVDC data center system on track as it releases its Kyber rack infrastructure. As Tom’s Hardware points out, Nvidia recently discussed its upcoming Rubin Ultra GPUs and Kyber racks and plans to have several times more GPUs per rack with its Rubin Ultra products than existing Blackwell B200 systems. Nvidia noted that it has already shown an 800V sidecar (at GTC 2025) that will power 576 Rubin Ultra GPUs in a Kyber rack.
Overall, Nvidia expects to see maintenance costs drop by as much as 70%, lower cooling costs, and as much as 5% in end-to-end power efficiency improvements.